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Ne.wYork 

"'union league club 



REPORT 



COMMITTEE ON VOLUNTEERING. 



Presented October 13th, 1864. 



$frfo fork: 
CLUB HOUSE. No. 26 EAST SEVENTEENTH STRFET. 

1 864. 



REPORT. 



The third colored Regiment, raised under the auspices of the 
Union LeaCxUE Club having been completed within a few davs 
past, the Committee on Volunteering beg leave to present 
the following report : 

The Committee was appointed on November 12th, 1863, 
in pursuance of a resolution of which the following is a copy : 

Resolved. "That a committee consisting of seven members be 
appointed by the Chair with full power, and on behalf of the Union 
League Club, to adopt and prosecute such measures as they shall 
deem most effectual for aiding the Government in raising and equip- 
ing the quota of volunteers to be raised in the State of New York, 
pursuant to the proclamation of the President of the United States." 



The Chair appointed the following Committee : 

Alexander Van Rensselaer, Le Grand B. Cannon, James A. 
Roosevelt, Elliott C. Cowdin, Charles P. Kirkland, Sherman J. 
Bacon, George Bliss, Jr. 

They met for organization on November 13th, 1863, and 
elected Mr. Van Rensselaer, Chairman, Mr. Roosevelt, Trea- 
surer, and Mr. Bliss, Secretary. They at once appointed a 
Committee to wait on Brig. General Hayes, the Acting Assist- 
ant Provost Marshal General, and consult with him as to 
the best mode of carrying out the purposes of their appoint- 



rnent. They also prepared a circular to the members of the 
Club, of which the following is a copy : 

Union League Club House, 
26 East 17th St, 
New York, November 16th, 1863. 

\1 a regular meeting of the Union League Club, held on Novem- 
ber 12th, 1863, the undersigned were appointed a Committee to 
take steps to promote volunteering under the recent call of the Pre- 
sident of the United States. We are satisfied that the best way to 
make our efforts effectual is to raise a fund to pay additional boun- 
ties to volunteers. We, therefore, appeal to the members of the 
Club to contribute liberally to this end. We feel that every mem- 
ber should have at least one man fighting for him in the armies of 
the Union, and that a small additional bounty will accomplish this 
result. 

We propose to select one of the regiments in the field, and fill it 
up to the maximum strength. We also propose to encourage 
enlistments in other ways. 

A gentleman has been employed to call upon every member 
of the Club ; but members are requested to send their subscriptions 
to either of the undersigned without waiting to be called upon. 
Checks should be drawn to the order of James A. Roosevelt, Trea- 
surer. 

Yours, Respectfully, 



On November 20th, the following- resolution was, after much 
discussion, unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, " That this Committee adopt some one of the Regiments 
now in the field from this city, whose term of service expires dur- 
ing the year 1864, and endeavor by the offer of extra bounties, 
by personal exertion and in other ways to fill it up to the maximum 
number, and that the regiment to be selected be so selected after 
notice to the members of the Club, (by posting on the board) 
requesting them to inform the members of the Committee if 
they prefer any particular regiment." 



At the same meeting a committee, consisting of Messrs. 
Cannon, Bliss, and Van Rensselaer was appointed to communi- 
cate with Gov. Seymour, and enquire " if he will authorize the 
recruiting of a colored regiment or of colored companies, pro- 
vided that the consent of the War Department be obtained." 



Reflection and discussion soon showed that the plan of offer- 
ing an additional bounty set out in the circular did not meet 
the approval of the members of the Club, for the reason 
that though it might fill certain regiments it was not 'likely 
to add to the aggregate number of soldiers in the service. In 
view of this, the following resolution was adopted at a meeting 
of the Committee on November 24th : 



Resolved, " That in view of the objections entertained by many 
members of the Club to the plan indicated in the circular heretofore 
issued by the committee, its execution be for the present abandoned, 
and that the members of the Club be appealed to to contribute lib- 
erally to enable the committee to promote volunteering in an effec- 
tive manner." 



In pursuance of the resolution of November 20th, a letter 
was addressed to Gov. Seymour, of which the following is 
a copy : 

New York, November 22, 1864. 

His Excellency Hon. Horatio Seymour, Governor, &c. 

Dear Sir : — At the regular meeting of the Union League Club, 
held at its Club House in Union Square in this city on Nov. 12th, 
1863, the following resolution was unanimously adopted : 

[The resolution appointing the Committee and that of the Committee appoint- 
ing the sub-Committee were here inserted.] 

The above resolutions indicate the object of this communication. 
On behalf of the Union League Club we desire to ask your au- 
thority to raise a regiment or companies of colored men in this 
State. If you shall be pleased to signify your willingness to grant 
such authority, we shall at once seek the approval of the War 
Department. 

We may be permitted to add that we believe that with the in- 
fluence of our Club, composed as it is of five hundred of the 
wealthiest and most influential gentlemen of the city, who have 
no purpose to serve, but the support of the Government, and aided 
as we should be by the eflorts of many citizens outside of our 
organization, the raising of a considerable body of colored troops 
in this State will be easily accomplished, and a considerable con- 
tribution thus made towards filling our quota. 

Of course we should before any actual movement towards re- 



cruiting was made, ask of you authorization to the proper officers 
in the usual form. 

Soliciting the favor of an early reply, we are very respectfully. 
Your obedient servants, 

Alexander Van Rensselaer, 

Geokce Bliss, Jr. 

Le Grand B. Cannon. 



The following reply was received in a few days after : 

" State of New York, Executive Department, Albany, ) 
November 27th, 1863. ) 

"Gentlemen: I have received your communication in relation 
to the organization of negro regiments into companies. The mat- 
ter rests entirely with the War Department at Washington. I un- 
derstand that permission has been given to persons in Brooklyn to 
raise such regiments, and I suppose, therefore, you can get a like 
authorization. 

" 1 send you a copy of a letter written by me to Mr. Rodgers, of 
New York, which covers the whole ground of your communication. 

"Yours truly, 

Horatio Seymour. 

" To Messrs. Alex. Van Rensselaer, L. G. B. Cannon, George Bliss, 
Jr." 



The letter to Mr. Rodgers, referred to by Gov. Seymour, 

was as follows : 

" State of New York Executive Department, ) 
Albany, Nov. 24, 1863. j 

" To James Rodgers, Esq., No. 421 Broadway, N. Y. 

Sir : In answer to your inquiries about the enlistment of Blacks 
and the organization of regiments and companies, I have to say : 

" First — That under the State laws the bounty is paid to all, 
without distinction, who are mustered into the service of the United 
States, and for whom credits are given to New York, under 
the President's call for troops. 

" Second — As to new organizations, I have no power to authorize 
any, either for blacks or whites, which will be entitled to the benefit 
of the bounty given by the General Government. The object 



at Washington is to fill up the ranks of the regiments in the field, 
If any new organizations, for either white or black troops are 
made, they must be authorized by the War Department, to entitle 
those who join them to the benefit of the money paid to volunteers 

" Yours, &c, 

" Horatio Seymour." 



It will be perceived that Gov. Seymour utterly misapprehend- 
ed the point of the letter of your Committee. We were quite 
aware that he had no power to authorize absolutely the raising 
of a regiment ; but we also knew that the Secretary of War 
was unwilling to authorize the raising of a new regiment in 
any State unless the consent of the Governor of that State was 
obtained, and we wished, therefore, to obtain the consent 
of Governor Seymour, before applying to the Secretary of War. 

After the receipt of the letter of Gov. Seymour, on Novem- 
ber 30th, the following resolution was 



Resolved, " That an application be made to the Secretary of War 
for authority to raise a colored regiment under the auspices of this 
Club, and that application be made to the Supervisors to know 
if they will pay the county bounty to negro volunteers." 

Messrs. Bliss and Cannon were appointed a committee to 
carry out the resolution, and they at once addressed the Secre- 
tary of War as follows : 

" Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 

" Dear Sir : On behalf of the Union League Club of this city we 
respectfully ask an authorization for a regiment of Colored Troops, 
to be raised in the State of New York, under the auspices of that 
Club. We have already made an application to His Excellency 
Governor Seymour, and have received a reply, of which we enclose 
a copy. 

" The Union League Club is composed of over five hundred of the 
wealthiest and most respectable citizens of New York, whose 
sole boud of association is an unflinching determination to support 
the Government. They have subscribed a large sum, to be appro- 
priated to the raising of a colored regiment, and will procure much 
more. They believe that by their exertions and influence they can, 
with the permission of the Government, put in the field a regiment 
worthy to stand side by side with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts. 



"If we are so fortunate as to receive your authorization, we 
shall take immediate steps to carry out our plan, and shall 
endeavor to present for approval able and experienced officers, 
whose heart is in the work. 

" We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

" George Bliss, Jr., ) n ... 

.. T n r> n c (Committee. 

Le Grand B. Cannon, 



This letter was forwarded through Hon. E. D. Morgan, who 
presented it and personally urged that the request of the 
Committee be granted. On December 5th, the Committee had 
the pleasure of receiving a communication from Senator 
Morgan, enclosing the following authorization to recruit a re- 
giment of colored troops : 



War Department, Adjutant General's Office, ) 
Washington, D. C, Dec. 3. 1863. f 

George Bliss, Jr., Esq., Union League Club Rooms, New York. 

Sir — " 1 am instructed by the Secretary of War to inform 
you that you are hereby authorized, as the representative of your 
associates of the Union League Club, to raise in the State of New 
York, one regiment of Infantry to be composed of colored men, 
to be mustered into the service of the United States for three years 
or during the war. To these troops no bounties will be paid. 
They will receive ten dollars per month and one ration, three 
dollars of which monthly pay may be in clothing. 

"The regiment will be known and designated as the Twentieth 
Regiment United States Colored Troops. 

" The organization of the regiment must conform strictly to 
the requirements of General Orders, No. 110, current series, 
War Department, a copy of which is herewith enclosed. 

" The prescribed number of commissioned officers will be appointed 
by the President after they shall have passed examination as provi- 
ded in General Orders, numbers 143 and 144, War Department, 
1863, copies of which are herewith enclosed, and your attention 
invited thereto The officers so appointed will be mustered into 
service on the presentation to the mustering officer of their appoint- 
ments, signed by the Secretary of War. The enlisted men may be 
mustered into service by squads, if found more convenient. 

" The troops raised under the foregoing authority will rendezvous 
at Hiker's Island, New York Harbor, to which point they will 



be sent as soon as they are mustered into service. An officer will 

be assigned to duty at that post to take charge of the men on their 

arrival and make the necessary requisitions for supplies." 

" I have the honor to be, 

" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" C. W. Foster, 
" Assistant Adjutant General." 

Immediately upon its receipt it was 

" Resolved — That the authorization be communicated to Governor 
Seymour, and that he be requested to give the movement his coun- 
tenance." 

In pursuance of this resolution the following letter was 
addressed to Governor Seymour : 

" New York, 50 Wall Street, Dec. 4th, 1863. 
" Hon. Horatio Seymour, Governor, &c. 

"Dear Sir : " On the receipt of your favor of the 27th, addressed to 
Mr. Van Rensselaer, and others, a Committee of the Union League 
Club, that Committee in accordance with your suggestion made an 
application to the War Department for authority to raise a Negro 
Regiment in this State. They, yesterday, received such an authori- 
zation and have directed me to transmit to you a copy of it 
and also of the application, and to express the hope that so far as is 
in your power you will give the movement your aid and coun- 
tenance. 

" They direct me also to suggest that some steps should be taken 
to put a stop to the recruiting in this State of men for other States, 
and to the inducing men to leave this State and enlist else- 
where. The committee believe that this has been done and is being 
done to a considerable extent and particularly with colored men. 

" Your obedient servant, 

" George Bliss, Jr., 

" Secretary." 

No reply was received to this letter, nor was any notice 
taken of it. 

Immediately on the receipt of this authorization, the Com- 
mittee set to work to carry it into effect. They put them- 
selves into communication with the prominent colored men in 
this city and solicited their co-operation. They also sought an 



Ill 



interview with a Committee appointed at a public meeting 
held at the Cooper Institute, who were moving to raise a 
colored regiment, but had received no authorization from 
the War Department. As the result of such interview, it was 
on December 9th, 

Resolved — " That the Committee of which Gen. W. K. Strong 
is chairman, be requested to appoint a sub-committee of three 
to confer with this Committee from time to time as invited by 
this Committee and to represent that Committee." 

In pursuance of this resolution, Messrs. Jackson S. Schultz, 
Edward Cromwell, (both of whom were members of this Club) 
and James Rodgers, were appointed and subsequently met and 
acted with your Committee and rendered very efficient ser- 
vices. 

Great, difficulty was found in procuring proper rooms for re- 
cruiting head-quarters, owing to the unwillingness of landlords 
to rent them for such a purpose as a depot for recruiting- 
negroes, but finally through the efforts of Mr. Schultz and Mr. 
Cromwell, an arrangement was made with a Committee of Mer- 
chants, appointed after the riots of July, 1853, for the purpose 
of aiding colored persons, by which we occupied jointly 
with them their rooms at No. 350 Fourth street, just east 
of Broadway; they were found admirably adapted for the pur- 
pose. At the same time an arrangement was made by which 
Mr. Vincent Colyer, who was in the employ of that Committee, 
was also induced to undertake the duties of Superintendent of 
Recruiting. His experience, not only with the Merchants' 
Committee, but in North Carolina, under Gen. Burnside, 
and his zeal and industry in the cause, pointed him out as pre- 
eminently the man for the place. Experience has shown that 
the Committee judged rightly, and it is to Mr. Colyer's untiring 
devotion and good judgment, that much of the success which 
attended the efforts of your Committee must be attributed. 
His report, which is annexed hereto, contains interesting and 
valuable information. 

The Committee held one or two meetings of colored men 
which were addressed by members of the Committee, and 



II 



exerted a beneficial influence. They also employed several re- 
cruiting agents and issued the following circular : 

Headquarters Twentieth Regiment U. S. Colored Troops, \ 
No. 350 Fourth Street, New York, Dec. 16, 1863. ) 

1. The Twentieth Regiment United States Colored Troops will 
be raised under an authorization granted on the application of 
a Committee of the Union League Club of New York City. 

2. It is the only regiment of colored men authorized to be raised 
in the State of New York. By order of the Secretary of War, 
all colored men heretofore enlisted or drafted in this State, or who 
may hereafter enlist, are assigned to this regiment. All Pro- 
vost Marshals are, by the same authority, directed to muster in re- 
cruits and to forward them to the rendezvous of the Regiment, 
at biker's Island, near New York. 

3. Recruits enlisted in this regiment will be counted upon 
the quota of the towns or wards to which they belong, in the same 
milliner as other volunteers. 

4. The headquarters of the regiment have been, for the present, 
established at No. 350 Fourth street New York, two doors east of 
Broadway, where all applications upon matters connected with tlie 
regiment should be made. 

All communications should be addressed to Mr. Vincent Colyer, 
who has been appointed General Superintendent of Recruiting. 

5. Persons desiring authorizations to recruit, with a view to 
obtaining positions in the regiment as line officers, should make ap- 
plication in writing, and furnish evidence of character and standing. 
For proper persons, permission to appear before the Examining 
Board at Washington will be obtained. All officers must pass this 
examination. Preference will be given to those who are now in 
the service as non-commissioned officers or otherwise, or who have 
seen service in the field. 

6. Proper persons, both white and colored, will be employed 
throughout the State as recruiting agents, who shall recruit 
men, but without themselves expecting positions in the regiment. 
Applications for such appointments should be made in writing, ac- 
companied by recommendations showing the standing and influence 
of the applicants in the locality where they desire to recruit. 

7. The following expenses will be paid by the Committee : 
First. — The necessary expenses of transporting recruits by 

the usual public conveyance, from the place of enrollment to 
the nearest Provost Marshal or Mustering Officer. The rate of 
payment will not exceed the Government rate of two cents per mile 
by stage. This expense will be paid as well for rejected as for 
accepted men, provided the Examining Surgeon shall certify that 
the cause of rejection was not such that the recruiting officer 



12 



or agent should have himself discovered it. The vouchers upon 
which such payments will be made will be the bills specifying 
the mimes of the persons transported, the place from and to which, 
the distance and mode of transportation, and evidence of muster 
into service or of rejection. In the case of rejected men, it should 
appear that the applicant was a colored man. 

Second. — So long- as the United States does not pay the premium 
of fifteen dollars per man for recruits for this regiment, the 
Committee will pay ten dollars to every person bringing an 
acceptable recruit, on the production of evidence of muster. 

Third. — In special eases allowances will be made for advertising, 
printing, and other expenses. 

S. Recruits will receive the State bounty of seventy-five dollars, 
and also the local bounty paid to other volunteers at the place 
of enlistment. They will not receive any United States bounty. 
Their pay is at present ten dollars per month, though it is believed 
that Congress will at once increase the pay of all soldiers, and 
place the blacks on an equality with the whites in this respect, and 
a bill for that purpose has been already presented. Such increase 
of pay will apply to all, no matter when enlisted. 

In the city of New York relief will be given to the families 
of volunteers in the same manner as to Avhite men, and it is 
believed that the same rule will prevail throughout the State. 

9. Recruiting officers and agents authorized by this Committee 
will be strictly required to see that the recruit' receives into his 
own hands the entire State and local bounty. 

10. The Committee will endeavor in every manner to protect re- 
cruits from impositions, and will secure them proper treatment 
after they are received by them. 

But it soon appeared that the best and most economical 
agents to be employed were the local authorities, interested in 
tilling the quotas of their respective localities, and the follow- 
ing circular was therefore prepared and a copy sent to the 
Supervisor of every town in the State, covering a copy of the 
circular just quoted : 



Headquarters Twentieth Reglmext U. S. Colored Troops, 
No. 350 Fourth Street, New York, Dec. 23, 1863. 
To the Supervisor of 

Sir,— We beg to call your attention to the annexed circular and 
particularly to the third paragraph. In view of the fact' that 
strenuous efforts are being made to induce our colored citizens 



L3 



to leave this State and enlist in other States, so that they do 
not count upon our quota, we have no hesitation in asking you 
to use your exertions to induce men to enlist in the Twentieth 
Regiment United States Colored Troops. As they will thus receive 
more bounty in hand than they can get elsewhere, will be in a Re- 
giment from their own State, and will have the protection of an in- 
fluential organization, this ought to be an easy matter. 

We are your obedient servants, 

George Bliss, Jr., ] 

Le Grand B. Cannon, j 

Alex. Van Rensselaer, | 

James A. Roosevelt, \ Committee 

Charles P. Kirkland, 

Sherman J. Bacon, I 

Elliot C. Cowdin. J 

Before the Committee had fairly perfected their arrange- 
ments, recruits began rapidly to arrive at the Depot on Riker's 
Island. By order of the Secretary of War, issued on the appli- 
cation of your Committee, about two hundred men, who 
had been either drafted or recruited at various points in the 
State of New York before the authority to raise the regiment 
was granted, were assigned to the Twentieth Regiment. Lt. 
Col. Perkins was also assigned by the Secretary of War to the 
temporary charge of the troops, which he retained till the re- 
giment was organized. For a considerable time the quar- 
ters provided for the colored men were insufficient and im- 
proper. Tents were furnished by the Government, but they 
were so few in number that the men were greatly crowded ; 
they were also without floors or means of warming, causing 
great suffering from cold. Disease began to appear to an 
alarming extent, while there was no proper hospital in which 
to treat it. Finding that the Government was from some 
cause or other, principally the rapidity with which recruits ar- 
rived, but partly from the neglect of some officials, not doing its 
duty by the men, your Committee took upon themselves to 
provide floors for the tents, to place a small stove in each, and 
to erect a hospital building and receiving barracks. This was 
accomplished as soon as possible, and from that time the 
condition of the men was greatly improved and soon be- 
came all that could be expected. Your Committee also took 



11 



means by the distribution of tobacco, newspapers, and in other 
ways to add to the pleasures of the men. 

We soon learned that many of the men had been shamefully 
defrauded in the matter of bounties to which they were 
entitled and that in some cases there was every reason to sup- 
pose that the men had been drugged before enlisting, while 
others, not drugged, had been deceived as to the service 
expected of them. These cases were confined mostly to the 
men enlisted at the Headquarters of Gen. Spinola, in Lafayette 
Hall, though there were too many cases of it among the 
men enlisted in Williamsburgh, at Tarrytown and at Dunkirk, 
and isolated eases occurred throughout the State. The men 
thus swindled and deceived, were chiefly those who were 
enlisted before your Committee received their authorization 
and Avho were, as already stated, assigned to the regiment 
by the Secretary of War. As soon as your Committee learned of 
these abuses they took every means in their power to put 
a stop to them, and. so far as possible, to redress the wrong 
that was done. Gen. Hayes, the Acting Assistant Provost Mar- 
shal General, issued such orders that at the offices of the Pro- 
vost Marshals responsible to him, few, if any, cases of abuse 
subsequently occurred ; but (Ten. Spinola was recruiting here 
under a special order from the War Department and seemed 
not to recognize the authority of Gen. Hayes, or of Gen. Dix. 
Your Committee addressed various letters to Gen. Dix 
upon the subject, some of which were transmitted by him 
to the Secretary of War. 



The following is a copy of one of these letters : 

Headquarters 20th Regt. U. S. Colored Troops 
350 Fourth Street, 

New York, Feb. 1 ,, 1864. 
Major Gen. John A. Dix, 

Commanding Department of the East: 
General— 1 have the honor to transmit herewith a nominal list 
of the men in the 20th Regt. U. S. Colored Troops, mustered in the 
city of New York, with a statement of the bounty they each re- 
ceived. This statement is prepared from the statements of the 
men, and I have no doubt is substantially correct. It results from 



If. 



it that 262 men mustered in the city of New York, received only 
$21,161 bounty, or about $80 each, while the County paid some one, 
$7S,600 for the men — $55,339 therefore, or $22 per man, went into 
the hands of some one other than the recruits. 

A similar list is in course of preparation with reference to the 
26th Regt, but as that regiment has not been mustered in, it takes 
some little time to prepare it. I am, General, 

Your obedient servant, 

Geo. Bliss, Jr. 



Gen. Dix was fully alive to the importance of putting a stop 
to these enormities, and he did not hesitate to make numerous 
"arbitrary arrests" of bounty brokers and swindlers, many of 
whom were compelled to refund the money they had obtained, 
though some of them first paid a visit to Fort Lafayette. Ma- 
jor A. B. Joline of Gen. Dix's staff manifested untiring indus- 
try and determination in following up and punishing these 
swindlers. The result was that, while redress for the past 
could not, in all cases, be obtained, the continuance of such 
abuse was pretty thoroughly prevented. Gen. Spinola is un- 
derstood to be undergoing trial by a Court Martial on charges 
arising out of these and similar transactions. 

Akin to these abuses, was the treatment the men and their 
friends going by the government boat to Riker's Island, often 
met with from those invested with a little brief authority, and 
your Committee had more than once to seek official interposi- 
tion. 

Among the first duties of your Committee was the procur- 
ing of proper officers. While the rapidity with which recruits 
arrived rendered it necessary that there should be officers to 
take charge of them, your Committee found great difficulty in 
procuring proper ones. All officers of colored regiments were 
by existing regulations required, before receiving their ap- 
pointments, to pass an examining board, presided over by 
Major General Casey, at Washington, but there Avas a sudden 
demand for more officers than this Board could pass upon. 
The Secretary of War signified his readiness to order before 
this Board any person whom your Committee might designate, 
and they availed themselves largely of this permission, con tin- 



L6 



ing their selections, however, strictly to those who had seen 
service in the field. Such was the need of officers, however, 
that we learned with pleasure that it was the intention of the 
Secretary of War to assign several at once, of whom our 
knowledge was confined to the fact that they had passed Gen. 
Casey's board. The following letter addressed by the Secre- 
tary to the Secretary of War, will show the views entertained 
by your Committee as to the principles which should govern 
in the selection of officers of colored regiments : 

"We feel that a peculiar class of officers is needed for such a 
regiment — that mere ability to pass an examination is not enough, 
that there should be experience in the field, undoubted personal 
courage, and above all, a heart in the peculiar work they under- 
take. The importance of attending to these points is shown by 
the list of officers you communicate. One or two of them are 
known to me, and I know them to be good soldiers, and yet they 
are not proper persons to raise and command colored troops." 

It was to the selection of a colonel that your committee 
attached the most importance, as they believed that the char- 
acter of the regiment would be in a great measure decided by 
him. After a careful inquiry as to the qualifications of a large 
number of persons suggested for the position, your Committee 
with entire unanimity offered the place to Lt. Col. Nelson B. 
Bartram, of the Eighth Regiment U.S. Colored Troops, then in 
camp near Philadelphia. Prior to the war Col. Bartram was 
vice-principal of one of the public schools of this city. In 
April, 1861, he raised a company which was assigned to the 
Seventeenth Regiment N. Y. Volunteers. He soon won his 
way to the position of Lieut. Colonel, and for nearly a year 
prior to the expiration of the term of service of the regiment, 
he commanded it, the colonel being either sick or on detached 
service. It is sufficient for your Committee to say that their 
selection of Col. Bartram was a most fortunate one. 

In this connection your Committee have the pleasure of 
stating that they have received from Mr. James H. Sackett, a 
portrait of Col. Bartram, which he desires through them to 
present to the Club. It is the same that has been for some 
time in the reading room, and is an excellent likeness. 



17 



The Committee arranged very soon after they commenced 
their work, that Rev. Mr. Garnett, a leading and eloquent col- 
ored clergyman of this City should temporarily assume the 
duties of chaplain. These duties he performed so successfully 
that we endeavored to procure him as the permanent chaplain 
of the regiment — that officer being the only one who could 
by existing regulations be a colored man — but a physical defect 
disqualified him from accepting the position. Through his in- 
fluence an association of colored women was formed who were 
very assiduous in visiting and caring for the men, particularly 
the sick. We afforded them such aid as was needed. A short 
time since we received from them the following letter of 
thanks : 



To the Members of the New York Loyal League Club. 

Gentlemen:— 11 The members of the Women's Committee for the aid 
of sick soldiers, desire to express to you our sincere gratitude for 
the great and good work which you have accomplished in organiz- 
ing and equipping for the service of our country the 20th, 26th and 
31st Regiments of United States Colored Troops. 

Some of us are mothers, wives and sisters of those heroic men, 
and all of us equally admire your practical patriotism and their 
gallant devotion to Liberty and the Union. 

We shall never cease to remember the magnificent reception 
which you gave to the 20th Regiment at their departure to the seat 
of war and the equally liberal preparations which you made for the 
26th, but which unfortunately they were prevented from receiving. 
We can assure you that your liberality and solicitude for the 
welfare of our men inspired them to take up arms and urged us to 
encourage them to peril their lives in common with others who are 
fighting in defence of Liberty and for the perpetuity of our Repub- 
lican Institutions. 

In vain we have sought to find suitable language to express our 
grateful emotions, enkindled by the noble acts of those patriotic 
ladies who presented our troops with elegant stands of colors and 
cheered them by their presence on the days of their departure. 

We have every reason to believe that our men will show by 
their valor and courage on the field that the kindness and encour- 
agement of the ladies of New York were not vainly bestowed. 

To Mr. Vincent Colyer, the able and accomplished Superintend- 
ent of your Headquarters, we desire to express our grateful 
acknowledgments for the uniform kindness and promptitude, and 
for the skill and effect that have distinguished the execution of the 



IS 



magnificent and patriotic plans which yon so wisely conceived and 
fostered. 

In conclusion, we trust that the influence of your magnanimous 
example may be felt in every section of our country, and that 
the heroism and achievements of our men in the great struggle for 
the overthrow of the rebellion and for the establishment of Liberty 
and Justice may in the future gladden your hearts and cause you to 
refer with pleasure to the day in which you espoused their cause." 



Recruiting made such rapid progress, that on December 19, 
only fourteen days after the authorization for the first regiment 
was received, your Committee felt justified in authorizing an 
application for authority to raise a second regiment. In point 
of fact the application was not made till a later period, but on 
Jan. 5th, we had the satisfaction of receiving the following- 
letter : 



War Department, Adjutant General's Office, ) 
Washington D. C, Jan. 4th, 1864. j 

George Bliss, Jr., Esq., No. 50 Wall Street, New York : 

" Sir — In reply to your letter of the 31st ultimo, stating that 
the Twentieth Regiment, U. S. Colored Troops is recruited nearly 
to the maximum, and requesting that the Union League Club 
be authorized to raise another Colored Regiment, I am directed by 
the Secretary of War to say that your request is hereby complied 
with, and the regiment will be known and designated as the Twenty- 
Sixth Regiment U. S. Colored Troops. The instructions contained 
in Department letter of December 3d, 1863, addressed to you 
will govern the organization of this Regiment. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

C. W. Foster, 

Assistant Adjutant Gen. Vols." 



Guided by experience, your Committee made some changes 
in the system of recruiting. 

Recruiting for this regiment proceeded with almost equal 
rapidity, and on Jan. 27th, 1864, your Committee addressed to 



19 



the Secretary of War a letter, of which the following is a 
copy : 

Washington, Jan. 27th, 1864. 
Major C. W. Foster, 

Assistant Adjutant General, War Department. 

" Major : — I am to-day informed by telegraph from Col. Cannon, 
that the 26th Regiment U. S. C. T. is full. I, therefore, respectfully 
apply on behalf of the Union League Club of New York, for 
authority to raise in the State of New York, a third regiment 
of colored troops. 

In making this application, it is proper for me to say that in 
view of the fact that considerably more than one half of the colored 
men of New York, who are capable of bearing arms are already 
enlisted, and of the further fact, that many of the Counties have 
filled their quota and have, therefore, ceased to pay bounties, it 
will be a matter of some difficulty and delay to raise a third 
regiment and we may not succeed. But we will do our best 
and can certainly care for and place at the disposal of the Govern- 
ment some men. 

Your obedient servant, 

Geo. Bliss, Jr." 

In reply, authority was promptly given to raise a third regi- 
ment to be called the Thirty-First Regiment U. S. Colored 
Troops. 

As soon as the Twentieth Regiment was full, your Commit- 
tee endeavored to hasten its departure, but the want of officers, 
the delay in procuring arms and the impossibility of getting 
from Gen. Jackson, who was in command at Riker's Island, the 
rolls of the Regiment, caused considerable delay. When these 
rolls were obtained, they were found to be in a most extraordi- 
nary condition ; men who had been on the island from the first 
were left off them, and therefore were necessarily put into 
the third regiment, while others who arrived after there were 
two full regiments on the Island, were put into the Twentieth. 
Friends who enlisted together were separated and great 
trouble and dissatisfaction were caused, which were, however, 
in a great measure overcome by the exertions of your Com- 
mittee. 



20 



Before the regiment left, your Committee caused a careful 
medical examination to be made of every man. As a con- 
sequence, about eighty men who had been previously passed 
by the examining surgeons at the places of enlistment, were 
found to be physically disqualified. By orders of the Sec- 
retary of War a Board was convened, who directed the 
discharge of these men and others were enlisted in their 
places. Your Committee caused a list to be prepared, show- 
ing the causes of disability, the fact that such disability must 
have existed at the time of enlistment, and the names of 
the surgeons who passed them, and forwarded it to Washing- 
Ion, with a request that the surgeons might be held account- 
able therefor by Court Martial or otherwise, but they are not 
aware that any action was taken. 

Prior to the departure of the Regiment, the officers were 
invited to meet the members of the Club at the Club 
House, that they might make their personal acquaintance. 

On February 8th, 1864, a meeting of women was held at the 
Club House, at which the following preamble and resolution 
were adopted : 



With a view of expressing our appreciation of the patriotic ser- 
vice of our relatives and friends, members of the Union League 
(Hub, in their energetic support of the Government, and especially 
in their successful efforts in raising and organizing under special 
authority of the War Department, the first regiment of Colored 
Troops raised in this State, and believing wo can host express our 
sympathy with, and cordial support of their loyal work, by present- 
ing the regiment raised under their patronage (the 20th Regiment 
U. S. Colored Troops) with a stand of colors. Therefore, 

Besolved, Thai a Committee of ten be appointed by the Chair 
with power to procure a stand of colors and circulate a sub- 
scription paper to defray the expense of the same. 

Besolved, That no individual subscription shall ho received 
exceeding the sum of five dollars. 

Resolved, That the Committee be requested to confer with the 
Committee of the Onion League Club as to the time and place of 
presentation. 



21 



The Twentieth Regiment left for New Orleans, on March 5, 
1864. The circumstances attending its departure must be 
fresh in the minds of the members of the Club. This war, 
fruitful in striking contrasts, has presented no more striking- 
one than that offered by the aspect of the City of New York 
during the early days of July, 1863, and its aspect on March 5, 
1864. On the latter day a thousand colored men marched 
down Broadway, after, and amid such an ovation as had 
not been seen since the early days of the rebellion, while 
during the former period every colored man was hunted 
through the streets like a wild beast. 

On the day of its departure the Regiment landed at the foot 
of Twenty-Sixth street, East River, and marched to Union 
Square, where a presentation of colors took place. 

These colors were of the most elegant description. The 
regimental flag was most elaborately embroidered from a 
beautiful and original design, furnished by Leutze, the artist, 
whose love of freedom is only surpassed by his genius. 

The address on presenting the colors was made by Charles 
King, the President of Columbia College, as follows : 

" I rejoice to see this day — I rejoice in the opportunity, beneath 
thisjrlorious sun and in the presence of this goodly assembly, and 
under the folds of our ever dear, honored flag of the Union — 
to salute you, soldiers of the 20th Regiment U. S. Colored Troops, 
as fellow-countrymen, fellow soldiers, for I, too, have in other days 
worn the uniform of the nation, and from my heart I honor it, and 
all who worthily wear it. 

' I am proud of the opportunity to stand before you as the repre- 
sentative of the loyal women who have united in the patriotic pur- 
pose of presenting to you a regimental flag to be borne with 
the colors of the nation of which you are now the accepted and 
sworn defenders and guardians. 

"These loyal women know and feel what such a ceremonial im- 
ports ; they know and feel that the sacred banner which they com- 
mit to your faithfulness and courage, is a trust as full of difficulty 
and of danger as of duty ; that it calls, on your part, for the hourly 
exercise of self-restraint, self-discipline, self-denial ; for the implicit 
obedience without which an army is but a mob, and for that 
high and patriotic devotion which counts even life itself a willing 



sacrifice to the cause of country and of liberty. The religion of the 
flag is second only to the religion of the altar, and our Father 
in heaven may be implored to bless, according to its purity, the one 
and the other. Hence he who is false to his flag is false to his al- 
tar and his God. 

" And these loyal women who thus confide to you a trust at once 
so dangerous and so honorable, they too — be assured of it — they will 
do all that may be done by careful ministration for the sick and the 
wounded, by systematic and considerate labors for the families 
of the soldier exposed by privation, to lighten the cares and 
gladden the hearts and strengthen the arms of those they encour- 
age to go forth to battle. 

" Go, then, soldiers of the Twentieth Regiment, go forth in 
the assured conviction that you leave behind you ever-watchful, 
ever-kind, ever-active friends, who, taking so prominent a part in 
equipping you for war, will in nowise falter in their efforts for the 
welfare of the families you leave behind. 

" To these considerations, which may be fitly addressed to all 
soldiers, I desire to add some that belong to you alone. For, 
my friends — and 1 use the expression all the more emphatically 
that the same expression was, in the fatal month of July, employed 
by a very high functionary on a very different occasion and to 
a very different body of men — to each the choice of and responsi- 
bility for his own friends — in addressing you by this name 1 
address soldiers of order, liberty, and law — men who came forth at 
the call of country and in vindication of her outraged Constitution 
— nay, of the very right of national existence. 

"To you, then, in addition the appeal suitable to every soldier, 
lies in a higher and holier sense, an appeal as emancipators of 
your own race, while acting as the defenders and champions of 
another. You are in arms, not for the freedom and law of the white 
race alone, but for universal law and freedom ; for the God 
implanted right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to 
every being whom He has fashioned in His image. When you put 
on the uniform and swear allegiance to the standard of the Union, 
you stand emancipated, regenerated, and disenthralled — the peer of 
the proudest soldier in the land ; and withered be the hand and pal- 
sied be the tongue that shall ever give consent to your being sub- 
ject to other treatment at the hands of the enemy than such as is 
measured out to other soldiers of the Republic. Prejudice, indeed, 
and the rancorous hate of brutalized minds and the ingrained 
meanness of factious partisanship may still throw obstacles in your 
way, but that way is upward and onward, and your march in 
it cannot be stopped, cannot be much delayed, unless by your own 
want of faith and want of work. To your own selves be true, 
to your high mission as the vindicators and asserters of your worth 
as men, and you cannot then be false to any one, or fail in any high 
and honorable endeavor. You may fall, as many of your race did 



23 



fall with the gallant, good young Shaw at Wagner, and the ignoble 
foe thought to dishonor that youthful hero's grave by heaping into 
it the corpses of his colored soldiers. Dishonored ! Who would 
not die such a death to be worthy of such a grave ? Who 
that rightly feels would exchange his lowly resting place on 
the barren shore of South Carolina, lulled by the eternal requiem of 
the solemn sea, for the proudest mausoleum in the loftiest temple 
built with human hands ? 

" No, no, my friends, you cannot be hindered now in your 
high calling. It is but to look back for a few years — nay, but for 
a few months in this city — to realize what a forward step has been 
taken, and to feel quite sure that in such a path there is no 
step backward. 

" On ! on ! then, soldiers of the 20th United States Colored 
Troops, with serried ranks, with faith in yourselves and in 
your cause, with confidence and affection for your officers, and with 
humble, but earnest trust in God, and you will, you must, in contri- 
buting to the l-escue of your country and its Constitution, work out 
your own complete redemption. 

" Already the colored troops of the United States count by 
tens and twenties of thousands, and nowhere have they turned 
back from the bloodiest conflict or failed to follow their leaders into 
the very jaws of death. 

" Dear Col. Bartram, to you and to the officers of this fine regi- 
ment it remains for me to say a few words : 

" The flag which I hold in my hands, to be placed in yours, 
tells its own story. The conquering eagle and the broken yoke 
and the armed figure of liberty speak as plainly as symbols can of 
the might of Freedom and the overthrow of Slavery — and flying, as 
will the standard-sheet, beside the Stars and Stripes of the Repub- 
lic, they will form a spell of such power as to bind up every gener- 
ous heart with one firm, fierce resolve that these flag3 shall not be 
separated — shall not be surrendered — but shall go marching on, 
and marching on, and still marching on to triumph and final 
victory ! 

"In the faith, Colonel, that such is your resolve, I commit to 
your hands, for the 20th Regiment United States Colored Troops, in 
the name of these loyal women, the flag they have prepared. May 
the blessing of Gi-od go with it, and with you and your soldiers ; 
fighting beneath its folds, may He cover your heads in the day of 
battle !" 

At the close of his speech, President King read the following 
address, which had been prepared by H. T. Tuckerrnan. The 
address was neatly engrossed on parchment, and signed by the 
women who presented the colors to the regiment: 



To the Officers and Men of the 20th United States Colored Troops ■ 

Soldiers : We, the mothers, wives, and sisters of the members of 
the New York Union League Club, by whose liberality and in- 
telligent patriotism, and under whose direct auspices, you have been 
organized into a body of national troops for the defense of the 
Union, earnestly sympathizing in the great cause of American free 
nationality, and desirous of testifying, by some memorial, our pro- 
found sense of the sacred object and the holy cause in behalf 
of which you have enlisted, have prepared for you this banner, 
at once the emblem of freedom and of faith, and the symbol of 
woman's best wishes and prayers for our common country, and es- 
pecially for your devotion thereto. 

When you look at this flag and rush to battle, or stand at guard 
beneath its sublime motto, " God and Liberty !" remember that it is 
also an emblem of love and honor from the daughters of this great 
metropolis to her brave champions in the field, and that they will 
anxiously watch your career, glorifying in your heroism, minister- 
ing to you when wounded and ill, and honoring your martyr- 
dom with benedictions and with tears. 



Mrs. J. J. Astor, Mrs 
i4 G. W. Blunt, 
•' J. VV r . Beekman, 
" S. Wetmore, 
'• S. B. Chittenden, 
" G. Bliss, Jr., 
" S. J. Bacon, 
'• K. B. Minturn, 
•• Charles KiUg, 
" S. W. BridgUam, 
" W. E. Dodge, 
" R. fttebbins, 
" S. B. Schieffelin, 

Miss King, 

Mrs. J. B. Johnson, 
" N. D. Smith. 
" T. M. Cheeseman 
" H. A. Coit, 
•' A. ?. Mann, 
" J.J. Phelps, 
" G. B. Deforest, 
" Le G. B. Cannon, 
" VV. A. Butler, 
" U. A. Murdock, 
" A. Dunlap, 
•' T. E. Howe, 
" W. H. Lee, 
" \V. E. Dodge, Jr. 
•' David Hoadly, 
'• 0. Ludiugton, 
" G. Lemist, 
" E. C. Cowdin, 
" J. A. Roosevelt. 
" J. Sampson, 



R. B. Minturn, Jr. 
All red Pell, Jr., 
W. Hutchins, 
Geo. Opdyke, 
G. C. Ward, 
C. G. Judson, 
S. W. Roosevelt. 
E. D. Smith, 
S. Gandy. 
R. L. Stuart, 
E. W. Stoughton. 
J. W. Bigelow, 
M. O. Roberts, 
H. K. Bogart, 
E. C. Hall, 
J. Le Roy, 
J. Brown, 
M. Clarkson, 
J. O. Stone, 
J. G. King, Jr., 
H.VanRenselaer 

' J. A. King, Jr., 
J • C. Cassegee, 

■ J. L. Kennedy, 
P. Prime, 
Barnwall, 
Wheelwright, 

■ E. Collins, 
Bradish, 

• Bruce, 

• Tuckerman, 

■ Shaw, 
Williams, 
P.Richards, 



Mrs. R. Winthrop, 
" Weeks. 
'• Jaques, 
" A. Brooks. 
•' W. Felt, 
" J. W. Goddard. 
" F. G. Shaw, 
" R. G. Shaw, 
'• G. B. Curtiss. 
'• R. C. Lovell, 
" C. G. Kirkland, 
" B. De Forest. 
" Boerum, 
" Hamilton Fish, 
•' Allied Pell 
•' Kennedy, 
" J. Johnston, 
" T. L. Beekman. 
" J. F. Gray, 
" J. Tuckeman, 
" F. A. Wkittaker, 
'• J H. Macy. 
•« F. H. Macy, 
•• J. McKaye, 
•' W. L.Felt, 
'• T. Haskell, 
•' Isaac Ames, 
'• L. V. Warner. 
" A.G.Phelps, 
" N. Chandler, 
•' H. Potter, 
"PS Van Ren'laer 
•• Walter. 
" H. Baldwin, 



Mrs. H.G.Thomson, 
" F. C. Pendester, 
•• H. C. Chapman. 
" G. Bancroft. 
'• M. K. Jessup, 
" J. C. B. Davis, 
" W. H. Schieffelin 
« C. C. Dodge, 
" John Jay. 
" E. M. Young. 
" J. T. Schultz, 
» J. E. Brenly. 
" H. Chauncy. 
'■ R. M. Hunt, 
" Jones, 

Miss J. Schieffelin, 
" Fish, 
" Jay> 
" Anna Jay, 
" Young, 
•' Schultz, 
•' Russell, 
- J. M. King, 
" Cochrane, 

Mrs. Vincent Colyer 
•< C. C. Hunt, 
•• C. Williams. 
" E. H. Chauncey, 
'• E. W. Cruger. 
•' W. C. Bryant, 
" F. B. Godwin, 
■■ Emily Boerum, 

Miss Norsworthy, 



25 



Col. Bartram replied as follows : 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 1 feel how utterly unable 1 am to 
respond in a becoming manner to the eloquent addresses just pro- 
nounced. While free to confess my deficiency in this respect, 
I yet claim for myself and my command an equal share of the 
patriotic ardor and love of country. In that we yield to none. 
This beautiful banner symbolizes our country. It is this that 
makes death glorious beneath its starry folds — it is this that 
arouses the feelings of outraged honor when we see it trailed in the 
dust. How base, and how dead to all sense of honor, must 
that wretch be whose brow burns not with shame and rage 
at the dishonor of the flag of his country. Nearly three years 
since, the country was shocked by the spectacle of a band of trai- 
tors tearing away the emblem of our country from a fortress 
over which it had floated proudly for years, and substituting in its 
place a miserable device of their own. Has this act been fully 
avenged ? No ! The punishment for it has undoubtedly been 
great already, but I trust that the utter humiliation and dis- 
comfiture which it deserves are about to follow. To this end this 
regiment is about to take the field — a regiment composed of a race 
hitherto despised — of a race almost hopelessly sunk in degradation 
by a system of slavery as barbarous as it is unjust. It has 
been the habit of those among us who sympathize with the traitors 
now in arms against us to sneer at what they are pleased to term 
cowardice of the negro. I hope that Port Hudson, Fort Wagner 
and Olustee have forever settled this question. In this regard, 
I must be permitted to refer bi-iefly to the conduct of the Eighth 
United States Colored Troops in the last-mentioned action. My 
reason for doing this is, that for some three or four months I was 
on duty with this regiment as its Lieutenant-Colonel, and dur- 
ing this period I had ample opportunity to become thoroughly 
acquainted with its officers and the material composing its rank and 
file. No regiment ever went to the field better officered than 
the Eighth, and no regiment ever contained a braver or more reso- 
lute set of men. How well they fought is shown by their list 
of casualties, and although a subordinate officer in a battery 
thought it a misfortune to be supported by a colored regiment, yet 
when we bear in mind that two veteran regiments had already 
found the position too hot and had retired, I think we can afford to 
forgive the slander, and say that the misfortune, if misfortune there 
was, was not in having a colored regiment for a support, but in 
having an officer in the service of the United States so biased, so 
ungenerous, so cowardly, as to slander the brave men who fell 
around his guns. I should feel recreant to my duty to an old com- 
panion-in-arms, who has laid down his life upon the altar of 
his country, did I permit this occasion to pass without paying this 
slight tribute to his memory. 

I trust that when the time comes for the Twentieth to go 
into action, we shall behave ourselves in a manner that will reflect 



26 



credit upon ourselves and honor upon our friends and our country. 
We feel that we have the sympathies and prayers of good men and 
women. We know the interest you feel in us — the high hopes you 
entertain — and believe me when I say that it is the determination 
of every officer and man of my command that, so far as the power 
to fulfil in them lies, you shall not be disappointed. I would that 
I could command appropriate words to address the noble women 
to whom we are indebted for this beautiful stand of colors Will 
you accept a soldier's thanks, and his pledge that they shall never 
know dishonor while strength remains to wield a weapon in their 
defence ?" 



After the presentation the men were served with a collation 
in Union Square, and the officers entertained at the Club 
House, after which they marched to the foot of Canal street, 
and embarked on board the steamer Ericsson. The march was 
literally a triumphal procession. 

In further continuation of the history of the Twentieth Regi- 
ment, it should be stated that it reached New Orleans in safety, 
proceeded at once to Port Hudson, remained there till the end 
of April, when it was ordered to Point Cavalho, Texas, where 
it remained only a few weeks. It then returned to New Or- 
leans, and has since been at Carrolton, near that city. It is 
admitted to be the best drilled and best disciplined regiment 
in the department of the Gulf, and Col. Bartram has been 
selected over several officers who were his seniors, to command 
the district of Carrolton, often having six or eight thousand 
men under his care. In one month the company savings on 
rations amounted to nearly fifteen hundred dollars. 

The regiment has lost so many men by death and enlistment 
into the navy, that it numbers only about 840 enlisted men ; 
and Col. Bartram has recently come north for the purpose of 
obtaining some recruits, his permission so to do being accom- 
panied by a most complimentary order from the general com- 
manding. Your Committee have made such arrangements as 
will, they believe, soon procure the men required. 



As soon as the Twentieth Regiment had left, your Com- 
mittee devoted themselves to -preparing the Twenty-Sixth 



27 



Regiment to take the field. They had selected as its com- 
mander Capt. William Silliman, of the 124th New York Volun- 
teers, who had won a name for himself at Getty sburgh, where 
he conducted himself most valiantly, and carried the colors of 
his regiment after the bearer and most of his men had been 
shot down. Arrangements had been made for a public recep- 
tion of the Twenty-Sixth Regiment on Saturday, March 26, 
but that day proved so stormy that the plan was abandoned, 
and the regiment came to New York the next day, and without 
landing, was transferred to the steamer that was to take them 
to Annapolis. On board the steamer, however, a flag was pre- 
sented to them. 

John Jay presented the flag in behalf of the donors in the 
following address : 

Soldiers of the 26th Regiment of United States Colored Troops : 

On behalf of the women of New York, who have prepared for you 
a staud of colors, I offer you a cordial greeting, and a hearty God- 
speed ! 

They had hoped, in common with tens of thousands of our fel- 
low-citizens, to greet you in person yesterday. This, to their ex- 
ceeding disappointment, th% storm prevented. The arrangements 
of the Government and the needs of the country require you to de- 
part to-day. We, therefore, come on this beautiful Easter morning, 
consecrated to faith and hope, to give you, as you depart on your 
sacred mission of high duty, our kind farewell. We greet you as 
Christians for ages have greeted each other on this sacred anniver- 
sary of Christ's Resurrection. We invoke for you the favor and 
protection of our risen Lord triumphant over sin and death. 

The President has called upon you to unite with your fellow -citi- 
zens in defending the integrity, the supremacy, and the honor of 
our country. 

Trusting implicitly to the National Faith, which the President, 
as Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States, has sol- 
emnly pledged in public Proclamations, you have promptly re- 
sponded to that call ; and without doubt, hesitation, or condition, 
you offer your lives for the defense of our common country and our 
common freedom. Organized by the National authority, you 
are henceforth a permanent part of the army of the Republic. 

Already have thousands of your race, suddenly elevated from a 
condition of bondage, faced the Rebel cannon and sharp-shooters at 
Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Milliken's Bend, and other 



28 



battle-fields of the South, with a heroism that has extorted the 
admiration and the gratitude of the American people. They have 
vindicated, by the highest ordeal, the right and capacity of 
their race to share with us the blessings which they have assisted 
to secure for the Nation. 

To-day you go forth from home, family and friends to emu- 
late their bright example, and to do bravely, with God's help, your 
part in the great contest. 

Your going, enables a thousand citizens of New York, liable to 
military service, to remain at home ; and you 4eave behind 
you those who will watch with interest every onward step in your 
career, and who will remember you constantly in their prayers. 

If you return, as God grant many of you may, crowned with 
glory and victory, you will receive the warm welcome due to your 
patriotism and valor ; and if you fall, as fall you may, your mem- 
ories will be fondly cherished with those of the noble-hearted who 
have died for their country. 

[The speaker here read the address of the women of the City 
of New York, accompanying the flag. As it is in the same terms, 
and from the same ladies as in the case of the 20th regiment, 
we do not repeat it.] Mr. Jay continued : 

Colonel Silliman : In the name of these women and at the 
request of the Committee on Volunteering of the Union League 
Club, to whom the country is indebted for this second regiment or- 
ganized by their efforts, I have the honor to present to you 
this stand of colors. 

Your heroic conduct on the hard fought fields of Gettysburg, 
where you saved the colors of the 124th New York, and brought out 
but a remnant of your command, and at Chancellorsville, assures 
us that we could not intrust them to worthier hands. 

Our Republican system, which again you go forth to maintain, 
while it demands our highest loyalty to the Constitutional Govern- 
ment of the American people, and makes the preservation of their 
National sovereignty the first duty of the American citizen, teaches 
us also the lesson which we early leaim and never forget, of pride, 
regai-d, and affection for our respective States. While, then, with 
your gallant officers and brave men, you follow the flag of our 
country and defend it with your lives, this standard will remind 
you, whether in camp, on the march, or on the battle-field, of your con 
nection with New York, and the names of her citizens who bid you an 
affectionate farewell. 

Remember, Colonel, and let every officer and man in your regiment 
remember, that when the story of your prowess is told by the 



29 



daily press or ou the page of history, this metropolis will share 
your triumph, and the Empire State count you proudly among her 
sons. 

Already has New York a record in this war of which her children 
may well be proud, even while thoy mourn her heroic dead — Ellsworth, 
Corcoran, Zook, Chapin, Smith, Peissner, Sherrill, Cowles, and all the 
unnumbered heroes who have fallen in the nation's cause. 

We offer to you, Colonel, the banner in its fresh silken beauty, the 
emblem of a constellation that is for the moment dim, and of a Union 
that seems somewhat shaken. Bring it to us again — tattered, it may 
be, and stained with the life-blood of your brave soldiers ; but bring it, 
the emblem of a nationality unbroken, of a sovereignty unimpaired, of 
a territory undiminished — the emblem of a Republic united and 
supreme, from which, though the stripes will have vanished, no 
star shall be missing. 



The voice of Mr. Jay rang- out clear and full upon the 
Sabbath air, and the free winds waved the new colors, while an 
unclouded sky crowned the picture. 

Col. Silliman replied briefly and to the point : 

Sir : The soldiers of the 26th Regiment thank you for your 
good words and kind wishes, and I can ask only that we may realize 
your highest hopes of us. 

What you have said of the men I believe is God's truth, and it will 
be the proudest day of my life when I can show their battle line to the 
traitor foe, and tell them : There are they that hunt for fugitive 
slaves ; let them each find his man. 

For myself, I feel that what a man has been is nothing to what 
he may yet be, and by the latter I will strive to merit the honor 
so heaped upon me here to-day. 

Fair women, I cannot tell you how dear to us will be this banner, the 
gift of loyal women of the North. We love it, not chiefly for its rare 
and costly beauty, but for what is beyond all price, and more glorious 
than beauty. It is the emblem of our faith in all of this life which is 
worth living for. It is to us the symbol of redemption from bondage, 
differing from that which is eternal only in discharge by death, and as 
Christians love the cross, so we love our country's flag. 

We thank you for your generous gift, and, as soldiers, we 
have sworn to love, honor and defend it with our lives. 

After the reply of Col. Silliman, Vincent Colyer came for- 
ward with a blue silk banner, trimmed with gold, on which 



30 



were inscribed the words, " Unconditional Loyalty," and on be- 
half of several Benevolent Societies of Colored Men of the city 
of New York, which were to have acted as an escort on Satur- 
day, had not the storm prevented, in a few brief and elo- 
quent words wished the soldiers a God-speed. Mr. Colyer 
then presented to each soldier, through the Chaplain, a hand- 
some satin rosette and badge, with the words " Unconditional 
Loyalty to God and our Country — to the soldiers of the 26th 
United States Colored Troops — from their friends." 

The Regiment went first to Annapolis, but after remaining 
there a short time was suddenly ordered to Beaufort, South 
Carolina, where it arrived the end of April and where it still 
is. Daring the first week in July it was in the action on 
John's Island, losing ninety-seven men in killed and wounded 
in an attempt to take a battery. The regiment was greatly 
complimented for its bravery and steadiness. Col. Silliman 
was prostrated by the wind of a passing shot, but after a brief 
period returned to the command. The Regiment has lost 
somewhat by disease. Besides the ordinary infantry drill, 
it has been drilled to heavy artillery, and Col. Silliman 
reports his men as hitting a pork barrel with an 18 pound shot 
at 800 yards. 

The recruiting for the Thirty-First Regiment proceeded, 
as your Committee anticipated, but very slowly. This was 
owing to various causes, chief among which was the fact 
referred to in the letter asking authority to raise it, 
that quite as large a proportion of colored men had volun. 
teered as could be expected. In a State which according 
to the census of 1860, had only 23,178 colored males, of whom 
only 8,954 came within the legal ages of enlistment, and of 
whom, by the ordinary calculation, not over five thousand were 
fit to be soldiers, 2,200 had already volunteered under the aus- 
pices of this Committee. This is without taking into account 
at least fifteen hundred men who had gone to Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and became 
soldiers there, and the many who were in the army as team- 
sters and servants. It is proper to add, however, that, though 
no effort was made to draw recruits from other States, a con- 



31 



siderable number from New Jersey and the border Southern 
States found their way into our Regiments. 

Another cause for the slow recruiting was the delay of Con- 
gress to pass a law recognizing the equality of colored and 
white men when they became soldiers, so far as pay and 
rations were concerned. Seven dollars a month in greenbacks 
and three dollars in clothing were poor inducements to a man 
who found himself charged with nearly thirty dollars of Lis pay 
for his first uniform. Recognizing this injustice; your Com- 
mittee had as early as January, addressed a memorial to Con- 
gress upon the subject and also memorialized the Legislature 
of this State. 

When nearly three companies of the Thirty-First Regiment 
had been recruited, they were suddenly ordered away at the 
opening of the spring campaign to join the ninth corps in the 
Army of the Potomac, and left under the command of Captain 
Wright, the senior Captain. A few weeks later a consolidation 
was arranged with about three hundred men, raised in Con- 
necticut, so as to form a batallion under the command of 
a Lieutenant-Colonel. As such they took part in the unsuc- 
cessful battle of the Crater, losing heavily in officers and men ; 
the Lieutenant- Colonel lost his leg and will probably never 
again be fit for active service. Quite recently we have suc- 
ceeded in filling the regiment up and a Colonel has been or is 
about to be appointed. The Regiment is now before Peters- 
burg, near the Southside Railroad, in good condition, but 
rather overworked. 

Before closing this report, it is proper to bear witness to the 
uniform courtesy with which your Committee has been treated 
by Major C. W. Foster, who is at the head of the Bureau 
of Colored Troops at Washington. He has promptly met the 
wishes of your Committee, whenever it was possible and 
has shown an interest in the work which has not been 
displayed by some officers nearer home. Major-General Dix, 
and Brigadier-General Hayes, also co-operated with us most 
heartilv. 



32 



The Treasurer's report shows that there was raised $18,995, 
of which a small balance remains unexpended ; more was not 
raised simply because it was not wanted, as your Committee 
had abundant reason to know it could have been obtained 
if needed. 

Your Committee now deem their labors finished, at least for 
the present. Those labors have been no slight ones, they 
have taken much time and have caused much anxiety, but 
your Committee feel amply rewarded by the success which 
has ciowned their efforts, as well as by the consciousness that 
they have done something to give to this Club its true charac- 
ter, that of a body of patriotic citizens where patriotism shows 
itself in deeds as well as in words. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

ALEXANDER VAN RENSSELAER, 
LE GRAND B. CANNON, 
JAMES A. ROOSEVELT. 
ELLIOT C. COWDIN, 
CHARLES P. KIRKLAND, 
SHERMAN J. BACON, 
GEORGE BLISS, Jr. 

Committee. 



33 



REPORT 1 



JAMES A. ROOSEVELT, Treasurer. 



Subscriptions received, $20,020 00 

Expenses to date, 18,982 02 



Cash in hand, .... $1,037 98 



Accounts audited and found correct. Oct. 27th, 1864. 



EDWARD CROMWELL 
ELLIOT C. COWDIN. 



REPORT OF Ik, VINCENT COLTER, 



GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF RECRUITING. 



Gentlemen : 

The colored people had hardly recovered from the persecutions 
to which they were subjected in the riots of the July previous, 
when, agreeably to your orders, in December, 1863, I issued your 
call for the able- bodied men among them to enlist in the U. S. 
Army. 

The delay caused by the vacillation of G-overnor Seymour, 
and the enterprise of the Governors of Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, and Connecticut, in having previously enlisted a large 
number of colored men, in our State, together with the fact, that 
many of the sub-agents engaged in recruiting, were men destitute 
of principle, made us commence the business at a great disadvan- 
tage. 

As soon as it was known that the Government would permit the 
raising of colored troops in the State of New York, and in the 
brief period of a fortnight, before your plans were perfected, runners 
of the vilest sort rushed into the work. The recruiting agents from 
Gen. Spinola's Head Quarters, Lafayette Hall, Broadway, meeting 
colored men in the streets, would ask them if they did not " want 
work as a coachman ;" take them into stables : show them a pair of 
fine horses and carriage ; offer them fabulous prices as wages ; 
give them ten or twenty dollars to bind the bargain, and a glass or 
two of liquor, oft times drugged ; get them to sign their enlistment 
papers ; and then, while in a state of drunken insensibility, hurry 
them off to the rendezvous. So bold did these rascals become, 
that colored men engaged in their peaceful avocations, passing by 
Lafayette Hall, would be seized by the guard and thrown into the 
pen and locked up ; to be plied with liquor, bribed and bullied into 



36 



consenting- to serve the purposes of these agents. The colored boj . 
John Alexander, employed in our office, was served in this way 
Colored men could hardly walk the streets with safety. Rev. Henry 
Highland Garnet, with two colored friends, coming across Court- 
landt street ferry, was set upon and so maltreated, that we had to 
ask for a special police to be kept at that place for weeks, to protect 
our recruits while crossing that ferry. These runners frequented 
most of the great highways of travel leading to this city, for hun- 
dreds of miles, and so great was the dread of them, that when our 
agents were sent out with hand-bills offering honest bounties, they 
were set upon and driven away by the colored men in the districts 
where these swindlers had previously been. 

One of these runners boldly printed a hand-bill, ottering one hun- 
dred dollars to the volunteers, and promising three hundred at 
some indefinite time in the future, when the soldier would be so 
far away, he would have no redress. The true terms were three 
hundred cash in hand, and no future payments. Provost Marshal 
Theodore B. Bronson, Esq., who was a terror to evil-doers, arrested 
this man. The New York Tribune of February 17th says : 

"But can ii be believed that all these monstrous irregularities, going on, day 
in and day out, at Lafayette Hall have been without the connivance, direct or 
indirect, of the officers and others in authority? Have the brokers and runners 
had this '-big thing" all to themselves ; and did the proper military officers who 
should have checked such evils remain inactive and practically conniving, for 
nothing? Old men with gray hair, over sixty years of age, had their hair dyed 
and were accepted as if in the prime of life. Mere boys ranging from fourteen 
to fifteen, were kidnapped on their way to or from school, and mastered in ; 
men with incurable diseases and manifestly unfit were passed : many men dis- 
charged from armies in (he field as hopeless cases, were returned to the service 
to be a burden on the pay -rolls and hospitals of the Government. Wherever 
men have been sen! to the field, complaints come back that more than half will 
have to be discharged immediately as unfit for the exposures and hardships of a 
soldier's life." 

Nor was it an easy matter to stop these outrages. When 
your remonstrances, together with the sworn statements of the 
soldiers who had been swindled, were senl into General Dix* and 
published, the New York Herald came out with leading editorials 
attacking the Union League Club Committee, defending General 
Spinola : while many men and officials, from whom we expected 
better things, sided with it. The plausible argument used was, 

* There is a typographical error on page 15 where it says the 262 men were 
swindled out of $22. It should read $222, each man. 



37 



that " other States were doing the same, and unless New York 
rivalled them in rascality, our quota could not be filled." We be- 
lieved and acted otherwise, and the three fine regiments which we 
have put into the field prove that we were right, and that honest 
dealing is always the most successful. 

The neglect and contempt with which the men were treated by 
the officials on Riker's Island, before your Committee corrected 
it, also, having been widely published, greatly checked enlistments. 

The following editorial from the New York Herald, appeared at 
the time and is a truthful statement : 

Cruelty to Volunteers— Neglect op the War Department— Our new re- 
cruits, we learn, are suffering terribly on Riker'a Island during this inclement 
weather. Our city authorities are doing all that lies in their power to raise our 
quota of volunteers — paying out millions of money for this purpose, As fast as 
recruited the Chairman of the Supervisors' Committee, Mr. Blunt, passes the men 
over to the United Stales authorities. They are transported to Riker's Island, not 
to be made comfortable during the inclement season by being placed in good and 
well warmed barracks, but thrust into old and worn cotton tents, without floor- 
ing or any furniture whatever, with not as much even as a bench or camp stools, 
and compelled to sleep on the bare earth, or at most a blanket between them- 
selves and the frosty soil. This is the extreme of cruelty. Well treated and 
hardened soldiers could hardly stand it on that bleak Island during the terribly 
severe weather we have had for the last ten days ; and upon these new recruits 
unused to such trials, the effect must be terrible indeed. The sufferings of these 
noble fellows have, we are told been of the most painful character. 

These reports having reached the city, the effect upon volunteering has been to 
check it most sensibly ; and unless the War Department or the officers in command 
display more humanity and correct this immediately, we are not only likely to 
lose many of those already recruited, but it will put a stop for the present to vol- 
unteering entirely. Such usage is simply barbarous. We hear also that certain 
authorized sutlers are actually robbing the soldiers on the Island. We are in- 
formed that they have charged forty cents for a dish of coffee, a dollar for a can- 
teen of water, and other outrages of equal atrocity. 

The first means adopted to counteract all these evils, were the 
public meetings, held in the colored churches, where, before crowded 
audiences, addresses were made by Chas. P. Kirkland, Esq., 
Mr. Jackson S. Schultz, Col. Woodward, Capt. Theo. B. Bronson, 
Rev Henry Highland Garnet, and myself, by which the colored 
recruits were assured that these outrages should be stopped, and 
they be honestly deal i with. 

Secondly — Circulars, hand-bills, &c, correctly stating the amount 
of bounties and wages paid to colored men, and the right of their 



38 



families to the Relief Fund, provided by the Supervisors of the 
counties in the State for the families of the volunteers ; were prin- 
ted and widely distributed throughout the colored churches of the 
State. One of these hand-bills had the names of the following, of 
the more eminent colored clergymen and leaders, endorsing the 
statements contained therein :— Rev. Henry Highland Garnet; 
Rev. Clinton Leonard ; Rev. John Cary ; Rev. Henry M. Wilson ; 
Rev. R. H. Cain ; Rev. R. P. Gibbs ; Rev. S. Talbot ; Rev. James 
N. Gloucester ; Mr. S. X. Gibbs. 

Thirdly —The employing the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet, and 
causing him to visit Riker's Island and take careful statements from 
the men who had been swindled by the bounty runners, and Gen. 
Dix's just and energetic action in promptly arresting the rascals 
who had cheated them, and causing the same to be widely pub 
lished in the daily journals. 

These three things — the public meetings in colored churches, at- 
tended to in person by the members of the Committee ; the printing 
of circulars, with the names of distinguished colored men, side by 
side with those of the Committee ; and the employing of the able 
and faithful friend of their race, Rev. Mr. Garnet, to hear their com- 
plaints, and getting Major-Gen. Dix to right them, soon secured 
the confidence of the colored people in our patriotic enterprise 

Recruits in large numbers quickly came in. Squads of them 
coming from distant parts of the State had to be provided with 
meals ; and, when arriving in the city too late for the steamer to 
Riker's Island, with lodging for the night. Bunks were fitted up in 
the building, and provision made for cooking, and otherwise caring 
for them. Companies of fifty men at a time, were accommodated 
in this way ; and as colored soldiers were a new feature in the war, 
their march to and from Head Quarters through the streets of the 
city, created quite a sensation. Occasional signs of disrespect 
were noticed, but much oftener they were greeted with hearty 
approbation. Among the volunteers enlisting were men from 
the British West India Islands, Hayti, Canada, Maryland, 
Virginia, Kentucky, and the West, but the majority were 
from the respectable, industrious and hard-working classes of our 
own State and City. One pastor of a chinch, the Rev. Mr Le 
Vere, since appointed chaplain of the Twentieth, came with the 
larger part of the male members of his congregation. Some were 



39 



men who had been driven out of their homes by the mob in July. 
One young man, Wm. Derickson, whose mother was murdered by 
the mob, and who had had his clothes saturated with camphene 
and straw piled over him in the streets, in order that he might be 
burned to death by the " peace copperheads," but who was timely 
rescued by the police, volunteered, and is now with the Twenty- 
Sixth at Beaufort. 

Many of the men left situations where they were getting- wages 
as high as sixty, forty, and thirty dollars the month, and cheerfully 
enlisted for the then small pay of ten dollars the month ; and this, 
although they knew that at that time, it was almost certain death 
for black men to be taken prisoners by the rebels. 

Some of the families of these men suffered severely from the en- 
thusiasm of their husbands in thus volunteering. As soon as it 
was possible to get the muster rolls of the companies on Riker's 
Island made out with reasonable accuracy, we sent clerks up to the 
Island to take the addresses of the families of all the men from 
whom they could obtain them, and we caused relief certificates to 
be printed, signed by the officers commanding, and forwarded to 
their families, together with a circular explaining their use. 

These soon brought numbers of letters in reply, saying that the 
Supervisors in many of the towns and in New York City, would 
not pay the relief money to "wives of colored men." By your ad- 
vice earnest remonstrances were made to the Supervisors ; and in 
a number of places the injustice was corrected. 

These relatives of the men, coming from all parts of the State 
and country, soon besieged the office for passes to visit Riker's 
Island to obtain the bounty money received by the men. 

The majority of the colored people cannot write, and the post- 
office address of their families is so often obscure, that they dare 
not send money by mail. Brig-General Stannard, commanding the 
troops in the harbor and vicinity of New York, afforded us all the 
facilities in his power, but the prejudice against color was so gene- 
ral and deep-seated, among the more ignorant of the deck hands, 
long-shoremen, and foreigners among the guard about the wharf 
and on the steamer, conveying troops and passengers to Riker's 
Island ; that it was thought best, on the occasion of the men re- 
ceiving their N, Y. State bounty of $75 each man, to charter a 



40 



steamer for this special purpose. Notices were accordingly sent 
throughout the State : and on Wednesday and Thursday, March 2d 
and 3d, permission having been obtained from Major General Dix, 
the comfortable steamer, " Metamora," was secured for this pur- 
pose. On the first day some six hundred of these relatives, mostly 
women and children ; and on the second day over eight hundred, 
visited the Island, and it is estimated, that over forty thousand 
dollars was brought away by them from their relatives in the 
ranks. 

It was thought prudent, by the Superintendent of Police, to have 
a good number of police at the landing near Bellevue Hospital, foot 
of Twenty-Seventh street, the scene of the old riots in July, to sup- 
press any demonstration which a large number of colored people 
waiting on the pier for the steamer might possibly occasion, but 
they were not required, certainly not by the colored people ; for, 
in the cabin of the steamer, both going and returning, scarcely 
anything was heard but the singing of religious hymns. The 
guard appointed by the commander of the Post, in searching the 
hundreds of baskets which the women were carrying filled with 
good things for the soldiers, did not find any liquor among them . 
and when this crowd of poor people left the handsomely carpeted 
cabins of the steamer, the captain remarked, that ' he did not find a 
scrap of dirt to sweep away.' The Union League Club may do 
many patriotic deeds in its day, but it will never do one that will 
give more unalloyed happiness to so many grateful people at the 
same cost as the above. 

Preparations were now made in the early part of March, 1864, 
for the departure of the first of the regiments raised, the Twentieth. 
Having occasion to employ a drum-major to instruct a drum corps 
for each of the regiments, I learned of the prejudice existing among 
the musicians as a class, against working for the colored troops. 
It was after much delay that I succeeded in obtaining the services 
of a very excellent man and instructor, Mr. George W. Bruce ; 
and when I made application to Mr. Harvey B. Dodworth and Mr. 
Graffula, leaders of the two bands, generally held at the time in 
the highest repute!, for a band to play for the parade of the Twen- 
tieth, and afterwards for the Twenty-Sixth, on the occasion of their 
departure for the seat of war, both of these gentlemen refused to 
play for colored soldiers on parade. But I am glad to be able to 
add that there is at least one band-master and one band who make 



41 



a more correct estimate of public sentiment. Helmsmullers' 
Twenty-Second Regiment Band, learning of Dodworth's and Gra- 
fulla's refusal, offered their services. They were not accepted, only 
because the band of the Seventh Regular Infantry, Mr J. Vett, 
leader, were before them in a similar offer and had been engaged. 

When the Club gave its entertainment to the officers of the 20th 
Regiment, some few members thought it inexpedient to have the 
colored chaplain present. Understanding the invitation as having 
been extended to all the officers of the Regiment, and learning that 
through some oversight the chaplain had not received his invita- 
tion, I sent a special messenger to inform Rev. Mr. Le Vere, 
that he was expected to be there. The day following, the 
Tribune and the Evening Post said he made the best speech 
of the evening, and was received with^marked enthusiasm. 

The parade of the Twentieth Regiment through the streets of 
New York on the 5th of March is thus described by the New York 
Times : 

" The scene of yesterday was one which marks an era of progress in the politi- 
cal and social history of New York. A thousand men, with black skins, and clad 
and equipped with the uniforms and arms of the United States Government^ 
marched from their camp through the most aristocratic and busy streets, received 
a grand ovation at the hands of the wealthiest and most respectable ladies and 
gentlemen of New York, and then moved down Broadway to the steamer which 
bears them to their destination — all amid the enthusiastic cheers, the encourag- 
ing plaudits, the waving hadkerchiefs, the showering bouquets, and other approv- 
ing manifestations of a hundred thousand of the most loyal of our people. 

" In the mouth of July last the homes of these people were burned and pil- 
laged by an infuriated political mob ; they and their families were hunted down 
and murdered in the public streets of this city ; and the force and majesty of the 
law were powerless to protect them. Seven brief months have passed, and a 
thousand of these despised and persecuted men march through the city in the 
garb of United States soldiers, in vindication of their own manhood, and with the 
approval of a countless multitude— in effect saving from inevitable and distaste- 
ful conscription the same number of those who hunted their persons and destroyed 
their homes during those days of humiliation and disgrace. This is noble ven- 
geance—a vengeance taught by Him who commanded, " Love them that hale 
you ; do good to them that persecute you." 

" The Twentieth Regiment United States Colored Troops left Riker's Island at 
9 o'clock in the morning, were taken on board the steamer John Romer, and con- 
veyed to the foot of Twenty sixth street, East River, where they disembarked 
and formed in regimental line. They are a fine, strong and hearty set of men, 
and their splendid appearance, combined with the apparent readiness and de- 
termination with which they enter their new profession, created a very favorable 



42 



impression in the minds of all who saw them. Long before the hour they were 
expected, Union Square was packed with a dense crowd of citizens, among whom 
were great numbers of the colored friends and relatives of the recruits, and the 
large force of police found it almost impossible to save room even for the regi- 
ment. Over the entrance of the house of the Union League Club a platform 
wis erected, ornamented with flags, extending the entire width of the building, 
and from it to the edge of the side-walk ; this was filled with the wives, sisters and 
daughters of the members of the Club. In the street another platform was erected, 
which was filled with a number of the most prominent citizens of New York and 
their ladies, and from it the flags were presented. About 1 o'clock the regiment 
made its appearance, and was hailed with hearty cheers. They marched to the 
front of the stand and performed one or two military movements in good style, 
their ruder arms being almost, if not quite, equal to that of the famous Seventh 
Regiment. They were then formed in square, open ranks, officers to the front, 
color guard to the front and centre, the Colonel in front of his regiment and op- 
posite President King of Columbia College, who presented the stand of colors to 
the regiment, and addressed them. 

'■ After listening to the addresses and partaking of a bountiful luncheon, the 
regiment was again formed in marching order, and proceeded down Broadway 
to Canal street. On few occasions were there such a mass of people assembled 
in Broadway and Canal street, The side-walks, from Fourteenth street down, and, 
in some cases, the middle of the streets were impassable, and locomotion was 
anything but an agreeable exercise. No military display has brought out the 
warmth and general enthusiasm of the masses as was evinced yesterday since the 
early days of the rebellion, when our streets daily resounded with the music 
and tread of thousands Hurrying forward in defence of their country. 

•• The regiment then proceeded to the foot of Canal street, where they em- 
barked on board of the steamer Ericsson for New Orleans." 

The New York Independent of the 10th of March, speaks as fol- 
lows : 

'• THE BLACK MAN IN THE REPUBLIC. 

•■ On Saturday, the tilth of March, the 20th U. S. Regiment of colored troops, re- 
cruited in this State, marched down Broadway amid the waving of handkerchiefs 
and the plaudits of the lookers-on. Man for man and collectively, these soldiers 
were the peers of any which had preceded or may yet follow them to the seat of 
war. They carried to i lie defense of their native land as brave hearts, as stal- 
wart forms, as hardy muscles, as correct discipline, as any. They will contribute, 
each man one, to the numerical superiority of the lederal over the rebel armies ; 
in the wall of living breasts uplifted between the republic and its foes, they will 
constitute an infrangible, integral portion. Thus equal in every essential par- 
ticular to their white comrades in arms, they go— and they are aware of it— to 
face tar greater dangers and to reap a far lesser reward. If North Carolina be 
their destination, they expect, when taken prisoners by Gen. Pickett, to be 
huno' on the spot : if South Carolina, death awaits them in various forms of tor- 
ture : if the Mississippi Valley, massacre in cold blood is their exemplified fate. 
Undergoing all the hardships to which other troops are exposed, half-paid, and 



48 



liable beside to extraordinary and atrocious treatment, how poor is the recom- 
pense they receive from the State which sends them out?" 

The Hon. Horace Greeley, in a paper of the same date, says : 
"This was by no means the first body of Blacks that have gone out from 
among- us to battle for our country : but it was the first that was really treated 
as the defenders of their country's life and honor are entitled to be. Less than 
three years ago, when the Nation rushed to arms to avenge the attack on Fort 
Sumter, had a colored regiment offered itself for this service, the tender would 
have been hooted and flouted as presumptuous and impudent. 

" But a short time ago colored citizens who hired a room and began to drill in 
private, so as to be ready for any emergency, were constrained by the Police to 
desist and disperse, In avert mob violence. When Massachusetts, many months 
afterward, raised her noble 54th regiment, and had it ready for service, she 
wished to send it to the seat of war through our city ; but was kindly advised not 
bo attempt this, for fear of consequences. Not many weeks since, the first colored 
regiment ever seen in our city landed at a down-town wharf, passed through a 
small corner of the least-inhabited quarter, and were hurried away as though 
they had been on a raid in the camp of a far more powerful foe. And now a re- 
giment of Blacks, fully equipped and armed, marches proudly for miles through 
our principal streets, receives a grand ovation from tens of thousands of our 
best and fairest, and is addressed byCharlea King. President of our principal Col- 
lege. 

Geo. Wm. Curtis, Esq., in Harper's Weekly, writes in Ins usual 
felicitous style in this vein : 

•■ THE TWENTIETH U. S. COLORED REGIMENT. 

■• Union Square is fast becoming historic ground. Less than ten years ago we 
stood there one evening while a band played a serenade ; after which Fernando 
Wood introduced James Buchanan from the balcony of the Everett House to the 
crowd beneath. Last week we stood there, while from a platform beneath the 
balcony the son of Rufus King, in lofty and touching words, presented the flag 
of the Union and of Liberty to the first regiment of colored troops that has 
marched from this city to defend both. Elsewhere in this paper there is a pic 
fcure of the scene ; and no scene of the war has been more striking or significant. 
In the same Square three years ago there was the first great gathering of the Ame- 
rican people in support of the war ; when General Anderson and the soldiers of 
Sumter were the heroes of the hour, and the war begun in Charleston harbor had 
been continued in the streets of Baltimore. Last spring, in the same square, was 
the great meeting upon the anniversary of Sumter, preceded by the formal dedi- 
cation of the Loyal Club-House. This spring's spectacle completes the cycle. 
The seed that Buchanan planted and Wood watered produced the attack on 
Sumter, and the riots in Baltimore and New York ; and no less, by God's grace, 
it produced the meetings of April 18f>l and 18fi2. and the honorable and hearty 
God-speed to the colored soldiers. 

•■ The day was soft and bright. The winds of March forgot to blow ; and at 11 
o'clock the regiment arrived from Riker's Island, where it had been encamped, 
and marched down the Fifth Avenue. Windows and door-steps were thronged 
with eager forms, and under waving handkerchiefs and friendly salutations the 



•u 



brave men marched by. At 1 o'clock they wheeled into Union Square from 
Fourteenth Street. The music of drums and trumpets mingled with the loud 
huzzas of the great crowd. The windows and steps here also were solid with 
welcoming hands and faces, and on the Loyal Union Club-House the flag was 
flying, as on the chief buildings in the Square. 

•' Everywhere the soldiers were greeted as a great city ought to greet its 
defenders, and as it has saluted every parting regiment since the Seventh 
marched on the 19th of April, three years ago. The flag of the country waved 
over them in benediction. The prayers of all noble hearts follow them. For 
these soldiers go to peculiar dangers. Officers and men, they have counted '.he 
cost ; and for union, liberty, and peace they are willing to pay the price. " It has 
been the habit of those among us," said Colonel Bartram, •• who sympathize with 
the traitors now in arms against us, to sneer at what they are pleased to term the 
cowardice ot the negro. I hope that Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, and Olustee 
have forever settled this question." Yes. and he and his soldiers will settle it 
still further, and thereby help to lift the bitter prejudice from the national heart. 
To no holier work could any man be devoted. God bless the Colonel, the officers, 
and men of the Twentieth United States Colored Regiment, and the cause they go 
to defend I "' 

This parade of the Twentieth Regiment through the streets of 
New York marked an epoch in the history of that people in the 
United States, and raised them to a position of respectability and 
importance in the State, from which they can never be displaced. 

Knowing that the larger part of the men of the regiment present 
at the presentation of the colors would never hear the address of 
the ladies read, I caused 2,000 copies of it to be distributed among 
them and their friends. The manuscript of that address was placed 
in the hands of the Messrs. Whitehorne, at 8 o'clock, and the matter 
was put in type, and the 2,000 copies printed and delivered in 
four hours after. 

I also distributed one thousand copies of the Anglo African 
(colored newspaper), containing the complete muster roll of the 
regiment, with the name of each soldier, and the post-office address 
of his nearest relative. I did this to raise his self-respect, and 
make him feel the dignity of his position as a soldier, and secure a 
knowledge, to his comrades, of the whereabouts of his family, so 
that they might inform them in the event of his death. 

To show that this work by the Union League Club, of putting color- 
ed regiments into the service of the United States, was not done without 
opposition, I give an extract from an article of over a column and 
a half of equally abusive matter in the New York Herald of March 
9th, 1864 : 

-One hundred and fifty ladies, belonging to the best society of New York, 
subscribed to a flag for the colored volunteers. In a beautifully worded note 



45 



they style themselves " the mothers, wives and sisters of the members of the 
New York Union League Club ; and call the flag ' an emblem of love and 
honor from the daughters of this great metropolis to her brave champions ;' and 
promise the darkies that they will ' watcb their career, glory in their heroism 
minnister to them when wounded, and honor their martyrdom with benedictions 
and with tears/ Are these promises, like pie-crust.<=, made to be broken ? If 
not. this is a pretty fair start for miscegenation. Why, the phrase ' love and 
honor ' needs only the little word ' obey ' to become equivalent to a marriage 
ceremony ; and, surely, if the daughters of the Fifth avenue had really married 
the negro recruits they could no more than ' minister ' to them and « glory ' in 
them, and give them ' benedictions and tears,' as they have contracted to do 
already in the presence of Providence and Mr. Charles King, whom Major Noah 
used to term ' the Pink of good society.' " 



By the .suggestion of the Hon. Judge Kelly of Philadelphia in 
October I860, I circulated a petition among the citizens of New 
York, addressed to the Congress of the United States, praying : 
That the soldiers of our army might be put on the same footing as 
to bounty, pay, and pensions, without regard to difference of com- 
plexion. To this petition some two thousand signatures of men of 
the first respectability in this city was obtained. By your orders, 
this was printed with the signatures on fine paper, and a copy sent 
to the President, the heads of the Departments at Washington., and 
to each member of the last Congress. The following reply was soon 
after received from Mr. Chase, and the petition was granted by 
the passage of a bill by Congress, making the pay, pensions, and 
bounty of all soldiers in the U. S. Army the same, without regard 
to the color of complexion : 

Treasury Department. ) 
Monday, Feb. 29, 1864. j 
Dear Sir : I have received the petition that Congress will pass 
such laws as will put the soldiers of our army on the same footing 
as to bounty, pay, and pensions, without regard to difference of 
complexion. 
I have no doubt of the expediency or justice of such legislation. 

Yours, very truly, 
Vincent Colyer, Esq. S. P. Chase. 

After the departure of the Twentieth, the same attentions, in 
every respect, were extended to the Twenty-Sixth Regiment as to 
the Twentieth. 

The public parade of the Twenty-Sixth through the streets of 
this city having been given up on account of the storm, as you 



u\ 



have said in your report, the colored societies who were to have 
escorted the regiment, met in mass meeting at the Rev. Henry II. 
Garnet's church, on the Monday evening following ; and amidst 
the great applause of a crowded audience, adopted the following 
resolution : 

" Resolved, That the State of New York owes a debt of gratitude 
to the Union League Club of this city for the part they have taken 
in the organization of colored troops in this State, and that the 
prompt and patriotic response of the colored men of the Empire 
State to their country's call to arms, is worthy of the highest com- 
mendation ; and having gone forth to fight for liberty and the 
Union, we will remember them affectionately, and pray God to 
make them strong, defend them in the day of battle, and give them 
victory." 

The church was tastefully decorated with flags — the singing 
was excellent, the speaking creditable to those who spoke, and the' 
race they represented. When the Louisiana delegates — then on 
their return from Washington, where they had been on a very im- 
portant mission— made their appearance in the pulpit (which they 
did with great reluctance) there was great cheering, clapping of 
hands, and waving of handkerchiefs, and complimentary saluta- 
tions Mr. Bertonneau, a Creole of fine presence, and evidently a 
man of culture, was almost forced from his seat before he would 
go forward. He said he never before entered a pulpit to make a 
speech. He had been to Washington on civil business. The 
memorial which he presented had been laid before the President, 
the Senate, and House of Representatives, asking that the privi- 
lege of voting be extended to the colored people of Louisiana. 



Of the history of the three regiments, up to the present time, I 
will give some idea by extracts from letters of officers and corres- 
pondents of the press. The following is from the Lieut.-Col. of 
the Twentieth : 

Headquarters, Twentieth U. S. C. Infantry, \ 
Camp Parapet, La., Oct. 15, 1*64. j 

Mr. Vincent Colter : 

My Dear Sir, — The health of the regiment is improving, and 1 
am hoping the cool weather we are now having will greatly dim- 
inish our sick list. Six companies are now here ; three are in New 
Orleans, and one in Jefferson City. I am having the tents re- 
paired in anticipation of cold weather, and have been fortunate in 



47 



securing a quantity of lumber. The stoves given us by the Union 
League have been invaluable to the regiment. They have not only 
enabled us to cook rations better than any other regiment here, 
but have assisted greatly in making company savings, with which 
I intend to purchase others, as soon as these become useless. The 
walks throughout camp are paved with brick, and each company 
is now building an. oven with the same material. 

I would like very much to have you see the regiment, which has 
a fine reputation in this department. There is no regiment in or 
about the city so neat and soldierly in appearance as this, except 
the First United States (white.) I will enclose extracts from the 
official report of the A. A. I. Gen. of the district for the months of 
July and August. 

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

A. E. MATHER, Lt.-Col., 
Commanding Regiment. 

Extracts from the report of A. A. I. Gen., Carrollton District, for 
the months of July and August : 

Twentieth U. S. C. Infantry. 

Have been ramped at the Parapet since May last ; is in the 
hands of energetic and faithful field officers, who have their regi- 
ment unusually well disciplined. Drills are exceedingly creditable 
to officers and men. Manner of doing guard duty, soldierly; camp 
is the finest in the district. The Hospital and Q. M. Departments 
are well conducted. In the absence of Col. N. B. Bartram, com- 
manding district, the regiment is in charge of Lt.-Col. A. E. 
Mather. One company of this regiment is doing Provost duty at 
Jefferson City and Gretna. 

Twentieth U. S. C. Infantry. 

An excellent regiment well in hand ; officers diligent and gene- 
rally efficient ; men prompt and well instructed for the time they 
have been in the service, and their opportunities for drill. 

Medical and Q. M. Departments unusually well conducted. This 
regiment has the cleanest and best camp in the district.. Duty, 
fatigue and drilling. 

A correspondent of the New York Tribune writing from Beau- 
fort, S. C, under date July 30, 1864, thus speaks of the conduct of 
the Twenty-Sixth Regiment in the action on John's Island, July 
5th : 

•• THE TWENTY-SIXTH UNDER FIRE. 

•■ We lay in this spot till the 7th. In the forenoon of that day Colonel Sillimau 
called the officers to him. and told them they would have a chance that niter- 



48 



noon to show themselves. A rebel battery had been discovered two miles to 
onr right, and the commanding general had selected the 26th U. S. C. T. to 
charge it. They were to march at two o'clock, and at four the charge was to be 
made. 

" The battery was posted in a very favorable position on the road running 
from Legareville. North, being stationed at the farther side of a large cleai'ing. 
which might have been occupied as a hop yard, but was not. At the appointed 
hour the regiment, solus, started on their mission. About half a mile before 
reaching the field of action, the column halted, and the men divested themselves 
of all superfluous baggage, as they had nothing but guns and accoutrements and 
canteens. In a few moments we were again ordered forward. ****** 
In looking out upon their clearing I saw that we had a good half mile to charge, 
under a heavy fire. They were eight hundred strong, with four pieces of artil- 
lery, while we were a single small regiment, mustering less than six hundred. 
The opening was full of ditches, at almost regular intervals, running parallel 
with the line of battle. Into one of these ditches we filed, which, with the weeds, 
partially concealed us from the enemy. They had, however, discovered us, and 
were shelling us heavily. Since our movement after entering the clearing was 
necessarily quick, the men were nearly exhausted by the time we reached the 
spot where the charge was to commence. The fatigue caused by our hard labor 
for the last hour, and the heat of the sun, rendered the men fit for anything but 
charging a battery, where a quick movement is the only salvation, and the only 
hope of success. After resting here for a minute or two. the colonel rose up and 
said, " Now, my game cocks ! are you ready ?" The men answered by rising up. 
This is a negro regiment, remember. " Now show them what you are made of!'' 
They go forward with a will and a loud shout. And never have I seen troops, 
old or new. act with a cooler determination, although they were heated by fatigue 
and the suu. They went forward as though they were certain there wen' no 
rebels at their front. They advanced under a heavy fire of musketry and artil. 
lery. But what can exhausted nature do. Our only safety lay in making a rapid 
movement, and now we were actually walking while the missiles of death were 
laying many a poor fellow low. We cannot reach the works, and are ordered to 
retire, which we do a few yards, and take shelter in one of the ditches. After 
a little they go forward again, — these negroes who, of course, won't fight, you 
know.— and now the colonel was brought down by a suu stroke, and taken from 
the field for dead. Capt. Salsbury assumes command and orders our advance, 
and again we are forced back. We charge five times against their four pieces of 
artillery, and eight hundred support, when orders come from the rear for us to 
retreat The men did it reluctantly. This position should have been t iken, and 
it would have been, with another regiment to aid us , but we had no aid, and 
the night was given to the enemy to fortify and reinforce, which opportunity 
they improved to the utmost. 

" As it was, we gained nothing, and lost 97 in killed and wounded. Among the 
wounded and missing is Lieut. James E. Spry. He is known to have been wound- 
ed in the foot, and it is supposed he was captured. This was the Twenty-Sixth's 
first great battle field, and it has been dubbed " Bloody Bridge Battle.'' And 
I am now fully convinced that the negro will fight, if you only give him a chance, 
copperheads to the contrary notwithstanding. They have proven on many a 
field that they are no less brave than white troops. I have had my doubts about 



49 



the fighting qualities of the negro, but the battle of the seventh has dispelled all 
doubt. The Twenty-Sixth can return home after a six months' absence, bearing 
with it a record of which many a white regiment might be proud who have been 
out three years. 

THE THIRTY-FIRST U. S. COLORED TROOPS AT PETERSBURG. 

The following are extracts of a private letter from an officer of the 
Thirty-First Regiment Colored Troops before Petersburg : 

Mr. Vincent Colyer. 

Near Petersburg, Va., August 2, 1864. 

Dear Sir : 1 suppose ere this you have heard that our division has 
been engaged. The result of it has not come up to my expectations ; 
yet, under more favorable circumstances, I am sure we would have 
won the admiration of all. I will give you a correct detail of the 
action. 

We have been continually notified for the last fortnight that our 
sappers were mining the enemy's position. As soon as ready our di- 
vision was to storm "the works on its explosion : this rumor had spread 
so wide we had no faith in it. On the night of the 29th we were in a 
position on the extreme left. We were drawn in about 9 p. m., and 
marched to General Burnside's headquarters, and closed in mass by 
division left in front. We there received official notice that the long- 
looked for mine was ready charged, and would be fired at daylight 
next morning. The plan of storming was as follows : One division of 
white troops was to charge the works immediately after the explosion, 
and carry the first and second line of the rebel intrenchments. Our 
division was to follow immediately and push right into Petersburg, 
take the city, and be supported by the remainder of the Ninth and the 
Twenty-Eighth corps. We were up bright and early, ready and eager 
for the struggle to commence. I had been wishing for something of 
this sort to do for some time to gain the respect of the Army of the 
Potomac. You know their former prejudices. At thirty minutes 
after five the ball opened. The mine, with some fifty pieces of artil- 
lery, went off almost instantaneously ; at the same time the white 
troops, according to the plan, charged the fort, which they carried, 
for there was nothing to oppose them ; but they did not succeed in 
carrying either of the lines of intrenchments. 

We were held in rear until the development of the movement of the 
white troops, but on seeing the disaster which was about to occur, we 
were pushed in by the flank, for we could go in in no other way to al- 
low us to get in position ; so you see on this failure we had nothing to 
do but gain by the flank. A charge in that manner has never proved 
successful to my knowledge ; when it does it is a surprise. 

Oar men went forward with enthusiasm equal to anything under 
different circumstances, but in going through the fort that had been 
blown up, the passage was almost impeded by obstacles thrown up by 
the explosion At the same time we were receiving a most deadly 



50 



cross-fire from both flanks. At this time our Lieutenant-Colonel, W. 
E. W. Ross, fell, shot through the left leg, bravely leading- the men. I 
immediately assumed command, but only to hold ii a tew minutes, 
when I fell, struck by a piece of shell in the side. Captain Robinson, 
from Connecticut, then took command, and from all we can 'earn he 
was killed. At this time our first charge was somewhat checked, and 
the men sought cover in the works. Again our charge was made, but, 
like the former, unsuccessful. This was followed by the enemy mak- 
ing a charge. Seeing the unorganized condition and the great loss of 
officers, the men fell back to our own works Yet a large number 
still held the fort until 2 p. m., when the enemy charged again and 
carried it. That ended the great attempt to take Petersburg. 

We were unsuccessful, yet I am confident that the valor and fight- 
ing qualities of our men are equal to any in the United States army. 
We will yet show it. 

Our loss is full fifty per cent, throughout this division. Officers suf- 
fered more than the men. Some of our regiments have only one or 
two officers left for duty. 



Before closing my report, I wish to record a case where the 
moral influence of the Union League Club was, by the blessing of 
Cod, brought to bear to the lasting advantage of the colored people, 
and the honor of the community. I refer to the breaking up of the. 
long existing practice of preventing colored people from riding in 
our city railroad cars. This result was attained in this way : 

The day after the news arrived of the heroic behavior of the 
.ol,, red troops in storming the rebel works at Petersburgb, Va. 
which was commended so highly by General Smith, the widow of 
Sergeant Anderson of the Twenty-Sixth Regiment, while in the 
natural confusion, arising from the distress of mind occasioned by 
the news, recently received, of the death of her husband, entering 
one of the cars of the Eighth Avenue City Rail Road, which 
was not marked with the usual sign : " Colored people allowed in 
this car," was forcibly ejected by the conductor. Mrs. Anderson 
called at our office and related the circumstances. I immedi- 
ately made an appointment for her to meet Mr. Jas. S. Stearns, 
the counsel for the Merchants' Relief Committee. Mr. Stearns 
having kindly taken her deposition, several earnest members 
of the Club promptly gave me . instructions to prosecute the 
case, and call upon them for whatever funds might be wanted. 
By direction of the President of the Club, 1 called to see Mr. 
Wm. Curtis Noyes, who, with his customary philanthropy on 
behalf of the oppressed, at once consented to take charge of the 



51 



case before the Courts, free of cost. The editors of the Evening 
Poxf, X. Y. Tribune, K Y. Times, and other papers, being- made 
acquainted with the circumstances, generously wrote leading' edi- 
torials, expressing indignation at the outrage. A policeman having 
been called in to aid the conductor in ejecting Mrs. Anderson, 1 
related the facts to Mr. Kennedy, Superintendent of the Police, and 
lie immediately promised an investigation 

The following is a brief report of the trial : 

" The court-room of the Board of Police was tilled this morning with 
policemen to attend the trial of officers for various offences. The case 
of Edward O. Tyler, charged with ejecting the widow of a colored sol- 
dier from one of the Eighth avenue cars, on .the 17th instant, attracted 
a number of citizens, who were desirous of hearing a decision upon the 
right of railroad companies to exclude colored people from their cars, 
and duty of the police to enforce such orders. 

" President Acton and Commissioners McMurra, and Bergen were 
present. 

"Mrs. Ellen Anderson, the complainant, is a respectable looking 
woman of about twenty-five years of age, tastefully dressed, with the 
manners of a lady. From her appearance it was evident that the dif. 
ficulty was not caused by the ill-temper of the woman, but because she 
was confident she had a right to ride in the car, and was -determined to 
test that right. 

Mr. J. P. Cumming, a director of the road was examined, and said 
he was a director of the Company, and that they had never made a 
rule excluding colored people from the ears. 

Isaac Sweeny, conductor of the car, was examined. He said there 
was an understanding among the conductors that colored persons could 
not ride in a part of the cars He believed Colonel May, superinten- 
dent of the road, issued the order. The superintendent never gave him 
the order directly, neither had he ever received a letter or printed book 
of directions containing the order. He supposed it was the rule of the 
road. 

At the close of the evidence Officer Tyler was asked by the Com. 
missioners why he ejected the woman. He replied that it was because 
he had received the order. 

Commissioner Acton — Who gave you the order ? 

Officer Tyler— The conductor. 

Commissioner Acton — If the conductor should give you orders to 
turn a man out because he had gray hair, would you do it ? 

Officer Tyler — No, sit- 



52 

Commissioner — Is there any rule of the Police Department requiring 
you to eject colored people from the cars? 
Officer — No, sir. 

Mr. Acton ruled that officers had no right to thus aid con- 
ductors, and administered a severe rebuke to the policeman, 
and caused it to be understood that no such offence should be re- 
peated by a member of the force. The directors of the Eighth 
Avenue R. Road finding that public opinion, as well as the law, 
no longer sustained them in the odious practice, issued an order 
withdrawing the restriction, and granting permission for colored 
people to ride in any of their cars, large or small. This was soon 
followed by the other city Railroads, So vanished before the 
Christian civilization of the age another relic of the bai'barisin of 
slavery. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

VINCENT COLYER. 



To 



Alexander Van Rensselaer, 
Le Grand B. Cannon, 
James A. Roosevelt, 
Elliot C. Cowdin, 
Charles P. Kirkland, 
Sherman J. Bacon, 
George Bliss, Jr., 

Committee. 



53 



Koster of Officers appointed to the Twentieth U. S. Colored 
Troops, Nov. 29, 1864 



NELSON B. BARTRAM, Colonel. 
Andrew E. Mather, Lieut.-Colonel. 
Amos P. Wells, Major. 
Thomas Cushing, Surgeon. 
David Stevens, Asst.-Surgeon. 
Frank E. Dorr, Asst.-Surgeon. 
George W. Le Vere, Chaplain. 



Captains. 



James S. Goold. 
Geo. A. Foster. 
H. H. Rouse. 
John E. Barnaby. 
E. L. Wage 



S. P. Putnam. 
Andrew B. Hull 
E. S. Currey. 
Wm. Moore 
W. M Greely. 



First Lieutenants. 



Casper Golderman. 
Norman R. Martin. 
D. J. Pilsworth. 
Martin Cooper. 
Francis Bridges. 
Nelson R. Sumner. 



Dudley F. Phelps. 
Parley Eaton 
Byron F. Strong. 
Elias. C. Mather 
John Habberton. 
W. H. Van Ornum. 



Second Lieutenants 



Charles A. Briggs. 
Mortimer F. Smith. 
Isaac G. Gardner. 
Benj. Ambuster. 
Bruno Trombly. 



Augustus Schraut. 
Thomas Parker. 
Wm. M. McClusky. 
James H. Thomas. 
C. H. Jenkins. 



54 



Roster of Officers appointed to the Twenty-Sixth U, S. 
Colored Troops, Nov, 29, 1864, 



WILLIAM SILLIMAN, Colonel. 

W. B. Guernsey, Lieut. -Colonel. 

Ira Winans, Major. 

James Uglow, Surgeon. 

B. R. Randolph, Chaplain. 

J. L. Whittaker, Asst.-Surgeon 

D. D. Taulman, Asst.-Surgeon 

Captains. 
Cyrus G. Dyer. Wm. A. Graham. 

H. L. Salsbury. Alonzo B. Whitney. 

\\ in. W. Tracy. Win. Davenport. 

George England: Eleazer W. Pettit, 

A. C. McDonald. 

First Lieutenants. 

('has. 11. Mattison Allen Sergeant. 

Sylvester Soper. Frank K. Orvis. 

-las. E. Sprague. Robert Aiton. 

Chas. II. Bobbins. .lames B. Chase 

Ruf'us Johnson. Ellery L. Miller. 

Eugene L. Barnes. 

Second Lieutenants. 

Buell A. Mann. A. P. Van Sanford. 

Andrew H. Hart. . lames E. Spry. 

John li. Swertfager. John Reed. 

A. A. Van Guilder Allen Gardiner 

J. II. Watrous Joseph L. Tull. 



55 



Koster of Officers Appointed to the Thirty First U, S, Colored 
. Troops, Nov. 29th, 1864, 



HENRY C. WARD, Colonel. 
W. E. W. Ross, Lieut. -Colonel 
Tin. mas Wright, Major. 
P. G. Barrett, Surgeon. 
Frank White, Asst. Surgeon. 



Captains. 



Augustus N. Goldwood. 
8. J. Shoop. 
I lharles Robinson. 
Adgate L. Loomis. 
Charles L. Finney. 



Curtis S. Dye. 
Pembroke V. Wise. 
John R. Morris. 
Henry Bliss. 
C. F. Ulrick. 



First Lieutenants. 



De Laroo Wilson. 
James B Mason. 
Henry H. Wilson 
Henry A. Downinj 
Edwin Leach. 
R, Cecil Barritt. 



George Greenman. 
James H. Cathcart. 
Elias B. Yordy. 
Ira St. Clair Smith 
Win. C. Williams. 
John F. Sanford. 



R. A. Barnes. 
Henry L. Lawton. 
J.Jin E. Wheelock. 
11. A. Bingham. 
Albert Latham. 



Second Lieutenant*. 

Dudley C. Bixby. 
John S. Appleton. 
Frank E. Woodruff. 
Clay W. Evans. 
Thomas W. Gardner. 



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